Rebuilding Your life
by Rumbling Night Cutter
Summary: Hiccup runs away to the small town of Berk in the Everglades, his Companion Toothless beside him. He feels empty, and is on the run. Will he be able to escape and find happiness again? Or purpose? The mystery of the Swamp seems to beckon him, leading the alienated teen to a whole new adventure. HICCSTRID First a Angst Fic! Read plz, no flames.
1. How to Find a Home

**Hello, peoples who Read the Gang and Time Fury, here's my stab at a modern AU**

** One established difference between our world and this one:**

** Everyone bonds with dragons at a young age, sort of like becoming siblings to each other. They become bonded in mind, body and soul. They get sick at the same time, they can share knowlage with each other, and die simultaneously, and they are called Companions to each other.**

**Aslo my first attempt to try my hand at angst fics. Hiccup will be dealing with severe depression and moderate self dislike, so it's gonna havd alot of angst, though nowhere near the legal of .ryder's. Now, Let's get on with it in:**

**HICCUP LIKES THE SWAMP, TOOHLESS HAS AN EGO, AND BOTH OF THEM GET SOAKED**

A boat pulled by a board looking green Monstrous Nightmare pulled up into the dock. His companion, a man with a stringy brown beard, patted his side as the people and dragons got off. They were in a murky swamp, droopy trees hanging low over the greenish waters. Flies and mosquitoes buzzed around the passengers.

A boy stepped down from the swam boat, followed closely by his Companion.

The boy was rather short and scrawny, with thin bright green eyes. He wore a large brown coat with lots of pockets in it, jeans, a red shirt with a curld up black Night Fury insignia on it. A black baseball cap was shoved on his head.

Beside him was Toothless, his companion, a Night Fury, long, black and built for speed. He had a similar cap to his Companion's wedged between his ear flaps. He looked at his human with a glare. "_Hiiiiiiiiicccccccccccccccuuuuuuuuuuuppppppppppppp!"_ He said into the boy's head., twitching an ear. _"Why did we have to take a boat?! Why couldn't we just fly?!" _The dragon's large wings itched from lack of use.

Hiccup sighed and looked at looked at his companion, who was glaring without remorse. _Because, Toothless," _He said back. _"We're not allowed to fly wherever we want! Do you want to violate airspace rules and get shot down?! What if you lost a tail fin, we would never fly again!"_

That made the Night Fury shake. The thought of being grounded had caused the adolescent dragon many a nightmare, and those nightmares had caused problems for Hiccup. He saw his Companion trembling and gave his buddy a scratch under the chin. "_Hey, hey, hey bud. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap. I'm just kinda scared you know? You're fine, you got both tail fins attached."_

Toothless nodded and motioned for Hiccup to get on his back. The boy complied with the dragon, and they trudged off into the swamp's settlement. Brick houses stood on concrete stilts above the houses. It wasn't too dingy a place, there was evidence of modern life mixed in with the Cajun, some flat screen TV's, a man with an iPad siting next to a Hackatoo. It seemed one of those run down, semi-modern places Hiccup always saw on TV and Toothless had begged to fly too. A good place, he already felt comfortable, somehow, as if the place was lulling him into a relaxed mindset. Maybe this could be a home.

Many people gaped at Toothless, as Night Furies were rare, almost as rare as Bewlderbeasts or Seadragonus's. This more than gratified Hiccup, as he was a little proud at having Toothless's unwavering loyalty, but the pair couldn't help but feel a little empty.

Hiccup rubbed the dark purple bruise on his side, groaning as the pain spread to his rib. _"You ok back there Bud?" _

The boy grunted a yes, but didn't move his hand from the bruise. Toothless turned his head and saw what his boy was doing. _"We're never going back, Hiccup." _

He couldn't even nod his head to agree wit his black friend.

The pair were knocked from their musings when a bright red Monstrous Nightmare stepped in front of them, a well-muscled black haired boy on it's neck, holding it's horns like the handles of a motorbike. "Woa!" The boy said as his Companion stumbled backwards. Meanwhile Toothless and Hiccup jumped backward, Night Fury and Human yelling as they cleared the wooded floor and fell into the swamp water below. There was laughter above them, and Toothless surfaced, unamused, reclaiming his hat as he rose, his boy clinging to his neck.

"WOW,' The boy on the Nightmare said. "That was unlucky. Don't worry, though, everyone falls in the water at one point. At least you got it out of the way now." The Nightmare helped Toothless out of the water, and he shook himself like a dog, throwing Hiccup off. The scrawny boy hid a wince as the bruise on his left leg banged against the wood, and got back to his feet.

The guy with the Nightmare held out a hand. "My name's Snotlout, and this is my Companion Hookfang."

Hiccup smiled and took the hand. "My name's Hiccup, and that," he gestured to Toothless, who was glaring at Hookfang. "Is Toothless." Snotlout raised an eyebrow.

"Night Furies don't have teeth," he said, confused, and Hiccup laughed a little. "Naw, he's got em'. Just, not all the time." He told Toothless to show them, and he flashed the pair a gummy grin, before his teeth popped out.

"Woa," Snotlout said. "That's awesome." Toothless smirked at the praise he was receiving. _"I like it here already," _He shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Who's this guy," a voice said behind them. Hiccup turned around and saw a boy mounted on a Typhoomerang. He had dirty teeth and blond hair, swamp gear decorating his torso. "Hey, Tuffnut!" Snotlout called up to the massive dragon,s head, where Tuffnut was perched. "I was just welcoming the new guy here! Look at this, his Companion's a Night Fury!" The blond boy's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates.

"A NIGHT FURY?! Sorry Torch, we just got outclassed." The Typhoomerang hung his head, causing his rider to fall, then glared at Toothless.

The new pair in town soon attracted quite the crowd. They were surrounded by people and dragons off all sorts, introduced to Tuffnut's twin, Ruffnut, and her dragon Scauldy, Fishlegs and Meatlug, Gustav and Fanghook, and many more. It was becoming a little overwhelming, and Hiccup's bruises were beginning to ache. He climbed onto his Companion, groaning as he moved.

"Hey," Snotlout called, "Where you going?"

Hiccup smiled weakly at him. "I gotta find somewhere for us to stay, I'll be back soon." He waved as Toothless took to the air with a beat of his wings. _"Friendly, aren't they?" _

Hiccup noded, and groaned in pain. Toothless felt it too, and clutched his ribs with his paws as they fell, crashing into the bay or the swamp river.

Hiccup stumbled to the water and stripped his torso, revealing skin pitted with scars and long standing bruises, an expecially massive one on his right side. He was so thin his ribs showed, and some of them were bent into the rest, slightly fractured. He clutched his induries in pain.

He heard Toothless lumber beside him. _"Maybe we shouldn't have run," _ He said. _"We should have stayed so I could kill him for doing this to you." _

The injured boy shook his head. _"No, Bud, that wouldn't have worked out."_

The Night Fury snorted. _"Yeah... But still."_ It was times like this Hiccup was truly grateful for his Companion. He probably wouldn't have lasted this long without him. The black dragon may have been lazy, demanding, arrogant, and teasing, but he made up for it by being protective, brave and loyal. He scratched the top of Toothless's head, and got up as the pain faded, putting his shirt and jacket back on. The bruises twinged at the contact, but it wasn't too severe.

The town wasn't that bad a place to fly over, he mused as Toothless skimmed the rooftops, studying their new home from the air. They still felt empty and meaningless, but it wasn't a crushing feeling anymore. Hiccup readjusted the cap on his Companion's head. _"Whaddaya say Bud," _ Hiccup asked, _"Think it'll do?"_

_"It just might."_

Suddenly a flash of blue flew past their eyes, nearly sending Toothless tumbling backwards. He flapped his wings to backpedal a little as the newcomer adjusted their flight. It was a rather fetching Deadly Nadder, with sapphire scales, and light yellow spikes. She flapped a bit, revealing her rider, a girl with blonde hair and a purple Tracker Class t-shirt and jeans

"Out for a late night flight?" She called, and Hiccup could only nod. Most Nadders were clumsy and awkward in the air, but this one moved with speed and grace to rival Toothless. Interesting.

"Havn't seen you here before," she called as Her companion leveled out to fly parrelell to Hiccup and Toothless. "I'm new. Surprised I didn't meet you erlier, they practicaly called the whole town on our heads."

She shrugged. "Sorry about that, small community, don't get a lot of visitors. I was out fishing with Stormfly the whole day. The name's Astrid,"

_That's a nice name,_ Hiccup thought, hoping Toothless didn't hear his inward thoughts.

"I'm Hiccup, this is Toothless. I'd shake your hand, but were a few winglengths apart. What's this place called anyway?"

She smirked at me from a higher vantage point. "The town's called Berk."

"Isn't that, like, a periodic table element?" Hiccup asked, confused.

"That's Berkelium, you twit." She called, and mimed a punch towards the scrawny boy. He chuckled. "So, your a smart mouth. Gonna fit in real well here," she chuckled. "Wanna race, new guy?"

This took him aback. No one was ever this willing to talk with him. He was always accompanied by the lethal Night Fury, had a dad bigger than should be humanly possible, a voice poison tipped with sarcasm, and a scowl that would have scarred off a Flightmare If only they would stay to see it was a grimace.

He starred a her, open mouthed. "You do see what Toothless is, right? He's a Night Fury, faster than even Skrills and Typhoomerangs."

"Yeah, and I beat Tuffnut and Torch every time, come on, it'll be fun!"

Hiccup started to smile a little. "Why not? Toothless says go for it!"

"Well, Stormfly's ready to kick your tail fins!" She called and they bolted forward.

The scrawny boy patted his Companion's head. _"Come on Bud, let's show them why the Vikings of old called you guys the offspring of lightning and death itself."_

_"Yeah!"_

He dove forward, and was soon behind Stormfly's tail. They did a barrel roll over the Tracker Class duo, and pulled ahead, Toothless mocking Stormfly with a flick of his ear plate.

This caused Human and Dragon to huff in annoyance before Stormfly reared and made a grab for his tail. The Night Fury used his smaller size to his advantage and flew under a bridge, which Stormfly flew into. The Deadly Nadder soon recovered, though, and rejoined Toothless above a rooftop, but was helpless to follow the Strike class dragon between houses, whereas they could dart in and out of small places and throw their opponents off. Hiccup was grinning like a madman, while Toothless's tongue flapped out of the side of his mouth.

Astrid huffed in frustration, and made one last go for the Strike Class duo, at which point Hiccup told Toothless, _"Let's show em' Bud!"_

Toothless reared and let his wings catch the winds, coming to a sudden stop.

Stormfly slammed claw first into the water, soaking herself and her rider, while Hiccup landed calmly on the bridge they started over. "Told ya!" He cheered.

Racing was one of the few things that cheered Hiccup up, and man, was he happy now, an emotion shared and embraced by Toothless as he gave them a gummy smirk.

Astrid wiped swamp water off her clothes. "Beginner's luck." She muttered.

"Hardly. I've been racing since Toothless was big enough to carry me," he said and rubbed the top of his Companion's head.

The blonde pouted a little, and Hiccup started to worry that she hated him, before a slash of swamp water landed right in his face. The boy yelped as his bruises took shock from the water as he landed in it, but hid it quickly, playing it off as shock. Toothless jumped to join his companion, drenching him further.

"Your all right newbie. What was your name again? Hiccup something?"

Hiccup froze, he couldn't very well tell her his last name, Snabb, so he improvised. "Hiccup Haddock."

Toothless gave him a look of disbelief. _"Haddock? Really? That's the best you got Hiccup?"_

_"I'm not good under this kind of pressure!"_

_"Or any kind."_

_"Shut up Reptile."_

Astrid shook her head. "Some names out there, huh? Well, it's getting late." She picked a bit of plant from her skirt and flicked it at Toothless's nose, who snorted it off. She got on Stormfly. "See you around Hiccup. Hope you make yourself at home!" She yelled as the two of them retreated past a corner.

_"Bud, we are definitely making our home here."_

_ "Someone's got a crush."_

_ "..."_

**Well, there's chapter one. Sorry about the twins, I felt it would be too weird giving them Barf and Belch, considering the whole melded consciousness thing. Also, FOLLOW, FAVORITE AND MOST OF ALLLLLLL**

**REVEIW!**


	2. How to get a Companion

**To celebrate the defeating of the evil called homework and essays, I have been writing the new chapter of Rebuilding Your Life and, if your lucky, posting the resolve to The Gang's first evil cliffhanger. **

**Thanks to no one in particular this time, as the plot and drive to do it stem from the loathing of english essays I carry. **

**Continuing on with my first angst fic in:**

**HICCUP HAS A MAJOR CRUSH, AND TOOTHLESS LIKES HATS**

Hiccup woke up to snoring.

He probably should have guessed that a guy called "Snotlout," would snore, but eh, he didn't and so he was paying for it.

Companions shared senses, and since Toothless had the hearing of a bat with ear steroids, so did Hiccup, which is why he was regretting the offer to stay at Snotlout's place until he could find a place of his own to sleep.

Toothless, who had a pitch black nightcap on one ear flap, put his paws over his head as Hookfang joined his Companion. They really didn't know which one was worse!

But in all honesty, Hiccup couldn't care less. The depression was bad that night.

**_"Hey! Useless!"_**

**_"Without your companion, your just a worthless twig! Let's see how long you last when your buddy's all passed out on dragon nip over there!"_**

**_"Your a worthless excuse for a human, a waste of space. You are an idiot, a worthless human being! A shame to the name of Snab! Your physically incapable of even breaking a stick, and you should be grateful we even allowed you to live, just so we could have a Night Fury among us!" _**

_"Hiccup!"_

The boy was jolted out of his memories by Toothless scolding him. _"What are you doing to yourself! Your not thinking about it again are you?"_

Hiccup nodded and felt his wrists, the small scars on them from when he'd been left alone with thinking time and no Toothless for a month. The black dragon had put the habit down as soon as he found out, but the discovery had disturbed him, to think his boy had been driven to that point.

He positioned himself directly in front of Hiccup, forest green staring into acid green.

_"Hiccup, you listen to me, and you listen to me good, Bud. Your NOT worthless. And we are NEVER going back there, not ever. People in Berk LIKE you, you can have an actual life here! The only allies we had back there were Gobber and Grump, who taught us metallurgy, remember? We could to metalwork for the town. I could find a Whispering Death and talk it into getting us ores!"_

Hiccup smiled through his sadness. _"I thought you were never gonna say another word to a Whispering Death as long as we live."_

Toothless just snorted. _"That guy was asking for it, and he got it. I got no regrets, or love for those spiky worms! But I don't know of any other digging type of dragon."_

_"What about a Sand Wraith. They dig, and they look like Night Furies. I saw how you were looking at Cassandra when we were_ 11." Hiccup smirked at his payback for Toothless teasing him about his crush on Astrid.

_"Why you little-"_

The pair dissolved into playful teasing. Toothless could cheer Hiccup up like that in a second. But Toothless did have a good idea. However, since they couldn't find either a Whispering Death OR a Desert Wraith, they had to find another way to earn thier keep.

Fishing with Snotlout and Ruffnut. The Scauldron was naturally able to catch fish along the wide swamp river, and Hookfang glided like a crocodile half in/ half out of the water, Snotlout cross-legged on his head and holding a fishing pole.

Toothless was in no way suited for water, though, to the point where he couldn't swim.

They ended up in a rowboat, Toothless having gained a black fishing hat with grey lures that Hiccup was not sure how his Companion had gotten. Hiccup used the fishing pole while Toothless's wings acted as the ores, and his tail as a rudder.

"So," Hiccup said, tapping the side of his boat. The thing was dingy and the white paint was peeling off the plastic case. Swamp muck littered the inside, but it still managed to keep afloat with a lazy Night Fury in it, so it had worth to it. "You guys fishermen here or something?"

Snotlout shrugged, leaning against one of Hookfang's horns. "Naw, but it fills the pocket with money when we need it." Ruffnut cracked up a little. "But it sure is hard work for people without Tidal Class partners." she patted Scauldy's head and the humongous dragon rumbled in appreciation.

"So, Hiccup, how'd you and Toothless Bond?" Snotlout asked, and the pair glanced at each other. "It was kind of a weird day for both of us. Toothless had somehow crashed, and lost his memory when I first met him.

* * *

><p>A six year old Hiccup stumbled into a pretty looking cove, looking for the tiny black shape he'd seen fall out of the sky. He had a Salmon in his tiny arms, and glanced around for it. <em>Maybe it'll be my Companion!<em> The little boy thought excitedly. _If he or she's ever gonna show up, I sure could use them. It's been lonely since Mommy and Cloudjumper disappeared, and not even Thornado likes me anymore, even though I still bring him dragon nip, and give him belly scratches..._

Hiccup's mental ramblings continued as he walked around, until he tripped over something and fell on his butt. The six year old looked to see a tiny black dragon no bigger than a beagle. It looked at him with slit pupils, gauging a threat.

Fearlessly, Hiccup proudly presented his gift to the Night Fury. It looked at the fish, then to Hiccup, then back to the fish.

The dragonling repeated the action several times, before opening his tiny mouth expectantly. "Twoothwess?" Hiccup asked, still not great at speaking. "Night Furrys dom't habe teth?" Suddenly the Night Fury's teeth popped out, and he lunged for the fish, taking it from the little boy's hand and tearing into it.

Hiccup stuck out his tongue a little in disgust. But his heart was pounding. This was it. You give a dragon something, and if they give you a gift in return, you can try to start bonding!

He held his berth till the Night Fury looked up from his food, and glanced at him. The rear half of the fish was still in front of it, and he used his nose to nudge it towards the six year old before him.

OF ALL THE GIFTS TO GET FROM HIS POTENTIAL COMPANION!

The Night Fury glanced from his gift to Hiccup, and the boy reluctantly bent and picked the fish remains up. With a _squelch,_ he bit into it.

The meat remained in his cheeks. He would spit it out when the Night Fury wasn't looking.

Unfortunately, the plan didn't work. The Night Fury looked up at him, eyes half lidded, and grumbled in a way that said, _I-ain't-stupid-eat-the-fish-puny-human!_

Hiccup looked at it with his best "Aw, COME ON!" Face, before reluctantly swallowing the fish.

Hiccup collapsed against the rock behind him and gave the Night Fury a smile. It looked at him curiously, like Hiccup did with something new.

The Night Fury's lips began to twitch, until its mouth was open parallel to its jaw, no teeth.

"You can smiwle!" Hiccup squealed joyously, and the little dragon got excited and bounced around the boy playfully, licking his face until he fell over flat. When Hiccup looked back up, the tiny dragon yawned, and fell asleep.

Deciding to wait for his friend, the young Hiccup began to draw in the dirt, making a Stormcutter, a Thunderdrum, and a Rumblehorn.

He started doodling the a Night Fury when he heard a litter patter behind him. He turned to find the dragon looking at him with rapture, then staring at the drawing. He gave his toothless smile and wagged his tail, grabbing Hiccup's stick and ragging lines in the dirt, until they were everywhere around the boy, the Night Fury quite satisfied with his work, and bounded to the human in the center of his drawing.

They looked at each other for almost a full minuet, before Hiccup raised his hand and closed his eyes, hoping to form the final bond with the Night Fury.

_Please,_ Hiccup thought. _I really need a friend right now. Everyone HATES me! I want someone to talk to soooo badly. It hurts. It hurst so much, Thor, Odin, please, I'm begging you, pleasepleasepleaseplease-"_

There was a cool sensation on his hand, and he looked to see the Night Fury's nose pressed tightly into his palm.

A warm feeling spread across Hiccup's heart and head. He liked it, it was warm, comforting, soft, gentle-

Until, with a force of a an enraged Rumblehorn, the loudest voice he'd ever heard filled the six year old's skull.

_"WHOAREYOUWHATAREYOUWHOAMIWHATAMIWHEREAREWEWHATJUSTHAPPENEDILIKEYOUBEFREINDSFOREVERNOW?"_

* * *

><p>"Toothless had amnesia, which he still hasn't recovered from. His left tail fin was injured, they almost had to amputate, but he's all good now."<p>

Hiccup looked at his companion and grinned, feeling the depression go away a little.

"Wow. And. I just met Hookfang in the street. That's impressive dude!" Snotlout said, and Hiccup shrugged.

Once they were bacK, Hiccup and Toothless went to the town hall.

The mayor,a large woman called Bertha was in the entry hall. Her Boneknapper Companion was curled up asleep behind her as Hiccup walked in.

"Excuse me ma'am." Hiccup said, and she looked up. "Yes?" She said, looking at Hiccup, then Toothless, who was now sporting a black sun cap.

"My partner and I were wondering if you know of any Whispering Deaths or Sand Wraiths living in Berk, do you?"

The large mayor looked at him curiously. "Why would you ask that?"

This was making Hiccup nervous. He didn't like talking to people that much bigger than him, and he was pretty sure Bertha outweighed TOOTHLESS!

He bit back a stutter, and gods forbid a lisp, but managed to get out, "I-I-Um-"

Hiccup _really _wished Toothless was the mouth of the relationship right then. "I would like to strike a deal with them to mine ores for me so I can set up a metal and ironworks shop here!" He got out in one breath.

Bertha stared at him, and he and Toothless squirmed under her eyes.

The large mayor opened her mouth, "CAMI!" She yelled, and a nine year old ran out, closely followed by a fully grown Sand Wraith.

The nine year old stood at attention. "Yes mom?"

Bertha pointed at Hiccup. "This boy would like to employ Sandy's services."

Hiccup studied the Sand Wraith. It was male, and around eleven years old, a little smaller than Toothless.

Sandy looked back, his gaze on Toothless something holding something like hero worship.

"Whatcha need?" Cami asked, turning to him with a broad smile, hands planted on her hips, blond plaited hair swinging.

Hiccup explained his request again, and they came to a deal, Sandy will get them ores, and in return they get 25% of profit and one free item a month. The whole while, Hiccup couldn't stop thinking about how the nine year old reminded him of someone.

As he turned to leave, the door opened, and he heard, "Mom, Cami-Im-UGH-"

Hiccup had failed to stop in time and now was on top of the newcomer, a sudden bout of pain and queasiness overcoming him.

_No! Not now!_ He thought desperately, and became even more panicked once he realized who it was.

Hiccup was laying directly on top of Astrid Hofferson, who had murder in her eyes.

In too much pain to get up, Hiccup could only stare helplessly, until Toothless picked him up by the shirt and evacuated his red-faced, suffering Companion.

_"That was awkward." _Toothless said, and Hiccup pressed a despaired moan into Toothless's hat.

**I MANAGED TO MAKE IT A BIT LONGER WHOOOOOOO!**

**REVIEWS, I need them, please!**


	3. How to Keep a Secret

**Here I am again with my first modern AU. I noticed I'm kind of neglected the modern elements of the story-hopefuly I fixed it in this chapter.**

**No thank you's this time, other than for reading. It really means a lot to me, and I think doing these stories for you guys**

**MAXIMUM FURY and Guardian Night Fury are in the works, comment on which one you want out first.**

**Lets go, with:HICCUP IS HIDING SOMETHING, TOOTHLESS AND ASTRID ARE MAD, STOCIK MAKES HIS FACE SHOWN, AND YOU AIN'T EXPECTIN' THIS ENDING!**

Three days. That's how long the Strike Class duo had to hide from Astrid. Every time she saw the, Hiccup jumped onto Toothless's saddle and off they went, before she could even call Stormfly.

She never stood a chance in catching up to Nadder may have been unusually fast for her breed, but Night Furies like Toothless were made to be gone in the blink of an eye-and people like Hiccup were made to ride them.

Hiccup was certain she was furious at him for knocking her over, and for not getting off her, and Hiccup really didn't want to get beaten up again.

"Ooooooooh what are we gonna do bud?" He yelled as Toothless hauled him away from a particularly close call. "She's probably gonna tear my head off or something!'

_"She does that, and I eat hers!"_ Toothless responded, and Hiccup propped himself up by his elbows, looking over Toothless's black fedora. _"Ah, its a mess Bud. But we still need to talk to that timberjack into helping us with the wood for our shop."_

Toothless nodded then sighed, relaxed that Hiccup was focusing on the future and not what happened in their past. Toothless glanced down a his chest, which was still stinging and throbbing from a few weeks before. Many of those scales were new. That was confusing to Toothless, especially since he just woke up one morning, missing most of his scales, and gory claws. He found Hiccup, blood on his hands and clothes, and crying his eyes out. Hiccup had begged, _pleaded _ with Toothless to just forget. He said they were broken, that they needed to be rebuilt.

They touched down at Snotlout's place. He and his father Spitelout, who's partner was a Snaflefang, ran a restaurant called Mead Hall, which was Viking themed. He and Toothless shuffled inside, closing the door behind him.

"Hey, Hiccup!" Tuffnut called, working as a waiter. He was dressed as a Viking, with fur an cotton clothes, a horned helmet shoved onto his head.

"Yeah, sure Tuff." Hiccup answered and soon returned wearing his own Viking gear. (How he looked in HTTYD with his helmet that Stoick gave him)

He and Tuffnut finished the shift, before heading off on a lunch break.

He and Hiccup sat above the water, Toothless and Torch fished below. "So, Hic," Tuff said, biting into his pizza. "What's with you avoiding Astrid? You act like you punched her grandma in the face!"

Hiccup gulped. "I, well, don't wanna talk about it."

Tuff smirked. "Having trouble with the ladies, are ya?"

Hiccup blinked, bewildered. "No, just Astrid." Suddenly there were footsteps behind them. Tuff looked over his shoulder, and his eyes widened. "I'll say something nice at your funeral!" With that, the male Thorsten leapt off and into the water below with a loud splash. Before Hiccup could even wonder about his actions there was a sharp tugging on the back of his shirt, and he was dragged backward toward the nearest building and slammed roughly into it. Hiccup found himself pinned to the wall by Astrid Hofferson, who looked like she would only leave with what she wanted, or he wouldn't leave at all.

He sent a telepathic message to his Companion. _"TOOTHLESS, HELP!"_

His oh so helpful companion only sent a mental snigger back. _"Sorry, bud. Not this time. I'll come get you if she starts hurting you, but you need to get this resolved!"_

_"Your supposed to protect me!"_

_"This is payback for giving me a stupid name!"_

Hiccup gulped as Astrid glared. "A-Astrid. W-what are you-"

"Why have you been avoiding me?" She said aggressively, "I mean, it's not like I could made you mad during our race after all, you won! So why are you avoiding me?! It's kind of frustrating when someone starts avoiding you for no good reason."

He stuttered, trying to form words. "I, um, ah, just, why don't you-" He tried to wriggle out of her pin, but she just slammed him back into the wall. "Well?" She looked at him pointedly.. "

"I, well," his face turned red and he looked down as he muttered in shame. "I was afraid you would... beat me up."

Her face fell in shock. "Why the heck would I do that?" Hurt began to etch its way into her features. "I don't come across as some kinda psycho do I?"

Hiccup shook his head. "N-no, but, well, I knocked you over, and well,"

"Laid on me?" She asked dryly, hurt disappearing.

"Yeah. And, well, you looked pretty mad about it!"

"That wasn't you!" She said. "That was... something else. I was having some, some things that day. I wasn't mad at you! I just," She let go, and he stumbled to the side. "Why didn't you get up?" She said, and he winced, reflexively reached for the bruise on his side, before whipping his hand down. She saw this, and looked at him. "What was that?"

"It was nothing," he said.

"No, you flinched when I asked why you didn't you didn't get up. Why didn't you get up?"

He shook a bit, and she gave him another death glare, then touched his side where the bruise was. He gasped as pain, sharp, intense and burning, shot into him, and he kneeled on the ground. He was pretty sure that was an internal injury. She looked at him and ripped open his shirt. The one day he chose to wear a button up shirt...

This was bad. Things were getting to the secret, the one he was never going to tell anyone. Not even Toothless.

"She gasped as she took in the marred scars and unhealing bruises on his torso. "W-What-"

_"Toothless, you need to get me out of here," _Hiccup sent to his Companion.

"Hiccup, what happened-"

_"NOW!"_

He ran and jumped off the edge of the walkway and a huge black dragon burst out of the water and caught him, whisking him into the air. Hiccup climbed onto his place on Toothless's back.

Astrid watched as the two flew into the air, hiding in the clouds.

_"HICCUP, WHY!" _Toothless roared at his companion as they soared into the clouds. Hiccup flinched, as if he was struck. _"Why can't we tell her? Why do e have to keep our past a secret, Hiccup! Why won't you tell me!"_

Hiccup was nearly breaking again.

_"I know your frustrated, Toothless," _Hiccup tried to calm his Companion.

_"No, Hiccup, you don't! I lost my memory when we were 6, but I trusted you because there were no secrets between us! You told me everything you knew! But I wake up, and suddenly your lying to me! Why did you suddenly start acting like you ripped my tail fin off?!"_

This was bad. He needed to scare Toothless off the scent of his secret.

_'Toothless, Bud, please. We were broken. Our lives were irreparable!"_

_"No Hiccup, NO! I wasn't broken, but you, you were shattered, utterly destroyed, and you won't tell me why! And your suffering for it! So tell me why!"_

Hiccup wanted to. He wanted to tell so badly, but...

_"Bud, please!"_

_"Your in pain, I can tell! You can't just keep a secret from me like this!"_

_"We need to rebuild our lives, Toothless! We can't ever think back, we can't-"_

_"Hiccup, if you don't tell me-"_

_"Toothless forget it, please!"_

Hiccup felt sick to his stomach. He hated himself for lying to Toothless, but he couldn't know what happened. He was bending, about to break again. He looked at the scars on chest, but passed over the burn on his left shoulder.

_"Toothless..." _He said, rubbing his Companion's neck. _"You are my brother, my friend, and my Companion. I would never hurt you, and you would never hurt me. You had my back through all the pain, picked me back up, helped me shrug off the pain. You've defended me against bullies, against Dad, against everything. You, Gobber, and Grump, I never would have survived without you guys!"_

And then Toothless sad something that shook Hiccup to his very core.

_"THEN WHY DID WE LEAVE THEM TO DIE?!"_

That was it. He broke again. Hiccup began to cry, and he shuddered against the black dragon's scales. _"I'm sorry bud. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry!"_

Memories flooded into his head.

_Hiccup's Dad held him be the neck and dragged him, kicking and screaming, towards a door. He never wanted to go into that room again!_

_Blood flowed from Hiccup's chest as his dad walked away, uncaring about his son or the Night Fury struggling in his bonds to get to Hiccup._

_His dad's massive fist slammed into his side, and pain like nothing he'd felt before welled through him as his ribs snapped. He groaned and fell._

_"Mommy!" Five year old Hiccup ran through the house in search of his mother, not noticing the claw of a Stormcutter poking out of a door, completely still._

_"Dad, please!" Hiccup yelled as Toothless was chained up. "NO, Hiccup, NO!" His dad yelled. "You were too weak to stop them without Toothless, so you will just have to survive without him for a week!" Hours later, Hiccup was holding a knife and thinking about what his dad had said. "I'm so useless," He murmured, positioning the blade above his wrists. "I'm useless, stupid, nothing without Toothless!"_

_"HICCUP!" Gobber screamed, hobbling towards him. Hiccup looked at Toothless. His Companion's eyes were cold, empty, his pupils didn't reach the edges of his eyes anymore. He looked... soulless. Like a zombie as he crept forward, wings splayed at awkward angles. He was growling, claws digging into the dirt._

_A Hotburple crashed into the ground near them, stone, cold, dead, as his Companion was murdered._

Hiccup sobbed, clutching Toothless's sides. He wanted to tell Toothless so much it was like a claw was squeezing heart. He was shattered again, and had barely picked himself back up the first time! The Night Fury seemed to realize what he'd done to Hiccup and immediately landed. Hiccup slid off, and is Companion put a wing over him. _"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."_ Hiccup repeated over and over. _"Bud, I can't tell you."_

Toothless crooned sadly. _"I'm not broken like you say, Hiccup."_

_"But I am."_

_"Then tell me."_

_"Then you'll be broken too. Please bud, trust me!" _Hiccup was still shaking horribly. Toothless looked at him, and curled against his brother.

_"Ok,_ _Hiccup."_ The Night Fury's voice was calm and accepting._ "Ok_,_ I'll trust you."_

* * *

><p>A few days later, Hiccup and Toothless's metalwork shop was built and opened. They still stayed with Snotlout, his parents had adopted Hiccup, but now he could earn his keep. He had a forge, and some metal ores Sandy had dug up for them.<p>

Hiccup looked around, taking in the new space the Jorgensons had given him, the ores stacked around. (Almost exactly like Gobber's forge, except with some modern elements, and propped up above water in a swamp, with a sign shaped like the Strike Class insignia curled over a hammer hanging in the front.

He placed his hand at the counter, and suddenly someone gripped it. He whirled to see who it was. "Hiccup." Astrid said warningly, keeping his hand hostage. "AH!" he jumped, but couldn't escape the blonde's grip. He shook a bit under her sea blue gaze.

"Yes?"

"What's wrong with you?" She said. "You have people who want to help you, and your suffering. Why don't you want help?"

He said nothing.

"Fine," She said, and released him. "I'll keep your secret then. But maybe you need to have someone besides Toothless to trust." She said, and looked and said, "You do know this place has a movie theater right?"

Hiccup was shocked by the sudden change in conversation. "I-It does?" She nodded.

"Do you want to go see something sometime, then?"

Hiccup was completely flabbergasted, mouth hanging open in shock. "A-Are you," He tried to find words. "Are you asking me out?"

"Yes," she said, unashamed.

"Why?" Hiccup asked, as if she had requested him to make an axe.

"Because I like you, and you need someone to help you stay out of trouble. And I can tell you have a very easy time of convincing Toothless to get into trouble."

That made him smile a little. "Well, he's kinda a pushover."

She smirked at him. "Soooo?"

He nodded. "Sure. I-I'd love to. But, um, I'm opening soon. I-I kinda need to get to work. People have been putting in requests all week, so, yeah. Must, get, started." She nodded and walked away.

"Tomorrow," she called over her shoulder.

"Y-yeah." Hiccup replied. Toothless waddled up behind him, and, for the first time since their argument, sent his Companion a dragon-y smirk. "Oh, what are you looking at?"

Suddenly a large man forced himself into the room. "By Gods that door is small!" A voice with a thick Scottish accent said. Hiccup turned and his jaw dropped. The man was HUGE, easily seven feet tall, and so big he nearly took up Hiccup's entire vision. Hiccup gaped. The size of this man, it almost rivaled his dad.

"So, your the famous Hiccup Haddock who'se moved in with Snotlout. Good to know. I just wanted to come and inspect the new place." He held out his enormous hand.

"Allow me to introduce myself. Stoick Herring, chief of Berk Police!"

**A few points. Stoick is not Hiccup's dad in this story, but will be a father figure to him.**

**Astrid is softer than she is in the movies because she was raised differently, with values and in a world similar to ours. She's been rasied to be nice, not tough, though she still I very, very tough and aggressive. That's part of any Astrid Hofferson.**

**Everyone always depicts Stoick as the mayor, but I can picture him much better as the chief of police.**

**Agggghhhhhhhhhh! The web page expired so man times while writing this, I almost gave up on it. But here it is, my first truly angsty chaper. REVEIW!**

**Have an awesome whatever-point-in-time-you-read-this everyone!**


	4. How to be an Idiot with a Girl

**Guys, review, quick! I'm loosing inspiration, your reviews fuel the fire for these stories! Please leave a review here and in my other stories! I'm begging you! Please!**

**To Guest:DragonBoy, thank you for pointing out I was rushing things a bit, I will try harder not to, but that was not the main plot, this is!**

**Annyway, that's all I have to say. **

**REVIEW! **

**REVIEW!**

**REVIEW!**

**REVIEW!**

**REVIEW!**

**HICCUP LIKES ASTRID, AND POOR ERET!**

It had been a few weeks since the Iron Fury, the name of Hiccup and Toothless' metalworking shop, had opened up, and life had been generally good.

Toothless curled around Hiccup, rumbling.

Hiccup was grateful that he had not asked questions about his secret after the fight. He loved Toothless like the brother he didn't get to have.

That was why Toothless could never know what happened.

But he had more immeadite problems.

Asking Astrid out. His date with Astrid had gone really well, and she had given him her phone number, which he now sat looking at in his cot in the Jorgonson household.

The string of numbers looked at him mockingly, daring him to press call and make an arse of himself like usual. He pressed the phone into his forehead and groaned.

_"PRESS THE FRIGGIN BUTTON YOU EEL BITTEN STICK!"_

Hiccup jumped as Toothless yelled in his head.

_"Your giving me a mental ear ache! You like the girl, Bud, just do it! We're here to start over, start by getting a girlfriend!"_

He sighed as he rubbed his face. Toothless was, ironically, the WORST wingman in history. He was pushy, sarcastic, and overall, rude, but he was all Hiccup had, so he really couldn't complain.

_"Toothless," _he started. _"I'm not good at this!"_

_"Neither am I!"_

_"Well your not the one with dating problems!"_

_"Arrgggg! If I could talk, I would grab that phone and scream at her that you want to date her! Then you wouldn't fill my skull with your hormone induced romance thoughts, and I could get some sleep you little squishy boy!"_

_"You couldn't even if you had a voice. No fingers, reptile! Ha!"_

Hiccup smirked triumphantly that he had gotten a hit in during their spar of words, and Toothless growled indignantly, swatting Hiccup with his tail, irked by the comment.

_"Call her, puny human. She can't possibly take all this raw... um, raw Hiccupness?"_

The Strike Class dragon received a deadpan glare from his companion, before Hiccup turned back to the phone in his hand. Toothless growled at him, looking from Hiccup to the phone. _"CALL HER OR I YACK FISH ON YOU!" _That made Hiccup jump and smack his companion on the nose.

In truth, all this was making him happy. Girl troubles, not what he'd left behind, just what Gobber wanted for him. A normal life. It made sleeping a little easier for him, knowing he was honoring their mentor's final wishes.

Normal life: asking a girl out! Man up, Hiccup!

Ok, had Toothless learned to speak in Hiccup's head like it was his own thoughts? He'd figured out how to do it to Toothless a while back and had nearly driven the poor dragon insane.

Sighing, Hiccup pressed the call button. It rang a few times.

"Hello?" Astrid's voice on the other end of the line almost made him choke and hang up. But he steeled his will and pressed on.

"Hey, Astrid, its-it's me. Hiccup."

"Oh, hey Hiccup." She sounded, actually, _pleased _to hear his voice. No one was ever pleased to hear Hiccup the Useless's voice before.

"Hey, so, um I was w-wondering," nerves overcame him, and he pulled his head back a hovered his thumb over the hang up button. Toothless saw this and growled at him.

_"Hang up, and the only meal you will have for a weak is yacked up fish."_

Hiccup gulped. "I-I was wondering if you..."

"Yes?" She sounded expecting, even hopeful. Why wasn't she disgusted with him, like everyone he's ever known?!

"If you wanted to-to-to-, Toothelss smacked him with his tail, and Hiccup coughed. "Togooutwothmeplease!"

"Wha?"

Crap, what did I do? Hiccup thought. "Um, I wanted to know if you wanted to go, r-RACING! Racing tomorrow!"

Good, same message, not so forward, right?

"Sure," she said. "A date?"

"Um, um-"

"See you then!"

The line went dead, and he flopped against Toothless, nerves uncoiling like a spring.

_"I hate you," _he thought wearily.

_"No you don't."_

_"Yes, actually, I do."_

_"No you don't."_

He beat a fist into Toothless's side, and sighed. He was about to continue their argument when a loud scream echoed through the village.

It was loud, and full of grief, like someone had their limb cut off. Like they had lost something that could never be replaced. And male, making it a little funny. Only a smidge. Tiny smidge. Not that much.

Hiccup climbed aboard Toothless and they dashed to the source, flying across the houses at speeds only a Night Fury could manage.

Following them were Astrid, Cami, Snotlout, and their Companions.

Toothless's superior hearing made him the leader of the group, as he could triangulate where the

They landed at the origin of the scream. It was Eret, a tall, muscular, raven haired maan, about six years older than them, with a blue tattoo-beard thing on his chin. He was kneeling on the ground, outside his house, clutching his hair and sobbing.

Usually at his side was a huge green rumblehorn called Skullcrusher, but the brutish dragon was absent from sight, instead of smacking his rider upside the head for acting weak like he usually did.

"Eret?" Cami asked, worried.

"I-I can't hear him!" The man stuttered. "I can feel him, kind of, but I can't _hear _him! He's gone silent!"

He grabbed Hiccup by the shirt and shook him violently, making the poor boy go dizzy, his eyes rolling a little. "HE'S GONE SILENT!"

"Eret," Astrid stepped in, wrenching Hiccup away from the muscled young man. "What do you mean?" Her tone was calm and she steadied Hiccup as he swayed.

"S-Skullcrusher!" He stuttered out. "I-I can't _hear _him. It-It's like some wall is in front of my mind, I can hear a little buzzing, like, like the hint of him speaking, but nothing else."

Hiccup gulped. Not good. _"Hiccup, this doesn't sound good at all," _Toothless said, mimicking his Companion's thoughts.

Hiccup shook his head. "Where was Skullcrusher last?"

Eret shook his head. "He-He told me that he was going into the swamp. To-To look for some food. He was f-feeling snackish. He was h-hunting!"

He shook, and Ruffnut hugged him consolingly, a slight grin on her face as she wrapped herself around his well muscled arm.

"When did he go silent?" Fishlegs pressed, and Eret shrugged. "I just woke up. I was going to bed when he left, I got up, and tried to call him over for an early morning chat, but," he threw his hands up and flopped them down uselessly.

Hiccup scowled. He was feeling a bit of the past here.

"Ok, ok, go tell Mayor Bertha," he told Cami, "and you, get Chief Stoick," he said, nudging Snotlout. They nodded and mounted their Companions, flying away.

"What about you?" Astrid called as he swung a leg over Toothless's neck.

"We're looking for Skullcrusher."

_"WHAT?!" _Toothless shrieked in his head.

She stared at him. "But that Rumblehorn could be anywhere! You could get lost out there! You could-"

Toothless took to the sky before she could finish. She grumbled and clenched her fists.

"If we end up dating, he's never gonna do that again, or so help me.."

She jumped onto Stormfly, going after the pair.

Hiccup landed in the swamp. "SKULLCRUSHER!" He called, cupping his hands over his mouth.

Then he thought. Something Gobber had taught him. Sometimes unbonded dragons would respond to dragon calls.

He cupped his hands over his mouth, and gave a low, rumbling roar from deep in his slim chest.

He got no answer though, but a roar of "HICCUP!" From above him.

He looked up and saw Astrid and Fishlegs coming down to land. "What are you guys doing here!?"

"Going after you, idiot," Astrid scowled, jumping off of Stormfly and walking up to him.

"This was really something I wanted to do alo-OW!"

He didn't get to finish as she delivered a hard punch to his shoulder.

"That was for not letting me finish my sentance!"

He mouthed "wha," then moved his hand up and down in a "Fair enough" gesture while mouthing the words.

"But still, um," he was cut off again as she hugged him.

"And what is this for?" He said, frozen.

"For being a nice guy." she said. "Not a lot of people would do this for someone."

He gulped, and slowly wrapped her arms around her, slightly miffed about the fact that she was slightly taller than him.

Fishlegs looked like he wanted to interrupt, but Hiccup shot him a"don't you dare," glare, and enjoyed the hug a bit longer.

"Yeah, so," the chubby boy said awkwardly. as she pulled away. "Skuuullllcrusher. Let's find him!" He pumped a fist in the air, faking enthusiasm. Meatlug licked him sympathetically.

They started to search around, looking through trees, parting plants. The dragons sniffed around for him, which gave Stormfly, a member of the Tracker Class, an advantage.

They searched for hours, and hours.

Hiccup was in a good mood from Astrid's hug, though his arm did hurt from the punch. Maybe Gobber's last request wasn't so far fetched. He could have a normal life! It was actually possible to escape that darkness!

He smiled to himself, remembering the fat man with only half his limbs.

"Metal is a fickle ally. At times, it's putty in your hand, allowing you to shape it to your will. It can be your salvation, or the thing that strikes your enemy dead in battle," the Scottish man had paused for dramatic effect. "But in an instant it can become your worst enemy. It can be your death. Metal can mend or destroy, create or demolish. It can take a limb away," he gestured to his fake arm. "Or replace it completely," he nodded to his steel leg.

The scrawny boy came back from his flashback, a bittersweet feeling welling inside him. Gobber was a good man. One of the best. If he ever got the chancel he would give the man the proper thank you's he deserved for his sacrifice.

Hiccup kept making his dragon call, and he felt something deep in his chest. Something disturbing.

Toothless moaned. _"Hiccup, I feel funny. Like I got into the alcohol again!"_

Hiccup looked at his companion in horror.

_"Toothless, what exactly do you mean?"_

The Night Fury shook his head a bit, as if there were flies around it, his pupils going between slitted and dilated.

_"I mean, um, it's, it's, it's, kind of hard to, uh, to, uh... Think! To think!"_

Hiccup swollowed.

"Guys," he called behind him. "I think we should be leaving."

"Yeah," Astrid called. "Stormfly's not doing so good."

"Meatlug's head feels funny too," Fishlegs added, cradling his Gronckle's head with his flabby arms.

Fishlegs jumped onto Meatlug's back and they buzzed away.

Hiccup looked awkwardly at Astrid. "Um, so, I guess, we should go." he said, making a move towards Toothless, when Astrid grabbed his arm.

"Do you like me?" She asked.

"Astrid, this is really not-"

She cut him off with a determined glare, and tightened her hold on his arm. "Hiccup, Ive only known you a few weeks, but you seem to be very good at avoiding things. You'll get on Toothless and fly back to Snotlout's, where I won't see you until out date," he choked at her _actually _calling it that.

"And during the _date,_" choke, "things will be too tense for me to ask that. So do. You. Like. Me?" she looked at him with sapphire eyes.

He bit his tongue.

"_Please_ Hiccup," her tone was tired. "I have some... Aggression issues. A lot of people are afraid of me, and I really don't want you to be. At least," she grinned sadly. "Not in the way that makes you avoid me. So I need to know now if you like me, or if you just called me because you were afraid of what I would do if you abandoned me. Answer me honestly. I won't try to hurt you," she smiled softly. "I promise."

Hiccup gulped at her heartfelt speech. "Honestly?"

She nodded.

"Your really nice when you arnt angry. You care about people, you give two cents if I'm in pain... yes I like you. A lot."

Her eyes lit up, but beforenshe could do anything else, a low roar reached them. Exactly like the roar of a Rumblehorn.

"Skullcrusher!" He looked, not noticing Toothless and Stormfly growling and shaking their heads.

Suddenly the large green Rumblehorn burst through the foliage, roaring like mad, fire in its throat.

Hiccup jumped as the dragon fired, an explosion forming between him and Astrid. It threw both of them back while the Dragons were in too much pain to help.

Skullcrusher charged forward, horn position to impale. He roared and Hiccup dropped, the dragon charging right over him like a car.

"HICCUP!" Astrid screamed, and staggered to her feet, charging the mad Rumblehorn. It looked up and charged her, mouth open.

She gave chase, climbing up a small ledge and kicking him in the face. He staggered away, shaking his head. Then he looked back at Hiccup.

"Skullcrusher," he said, holding his hands up. "Calm down. Just-a Just calm down. It's ok, it's fine, everything's good. You can trust meeeeeeeeee-"

Skullcrusher had tried to bite him in the middle of his "Me" and so the word had continued as he stumbled backwards and tried to run.

Astrid slammed into his side, a useless move, and the brutish dragon advanced on her, mouth ready to bite.

"ASTRID!"

She was tackled out of the way.

The last sensations Hiccup had before he passed out were Astrid screaming, and a terrible agony on his left calf.

**Review or the fanfic gets it!**


	5. How to Go into a Coma

**Hello! Not much to say this time, unfortunately. **

**HICCUP IS BROKEN INSIDE ****_AND _****OUT. POOR GUY.**

Astrid watched in horror as Hiccup hung limply by his leg from Skullcrusher's mouth. The insane Rumblehorn shook him violently, back and forth, before brutally throwing him into the tall grass. She heard him land with a dull thump.

Skullcrusher rounded on her, amber eyes zeroing in on the young girl before him. She quavered for a second, before setting her face in determination. She was Fearless Astrid Hofferson! She was going to be brave, even if these were her final moments!

Skulllcrusher charged, the ground shaking under his leaping steps.

Astrid met his gaze with steely blue eyes.

Suddenly a plasma blast hit Skullcrusher in the side of the head. The green and brown dragon tumbled to the side, smoke curling off him.

Standing there, still mentally struggling, was Toothless. His hat slipped off as he dragged himself off the ground, and the Night Fury gave a _very angry _snarl.

He and Skullcrusher circled each other, before rushing forward. Skullcrusher fired, but Toothless jumped over and landed on the larger dragon's back, and blasted between his wings. The Rumblehorn roared and tried to roll on his back, but Toothless jumped off, onto the ground.

They rushed each other again, but this time he smashed the onyx dragon in the head with his tail. The Night Fury roared in pain, ear flaps pinning back. He was smacked by the Rumblehorn's tail and wings multiple times. A flurry of grass green hitting the smaller black dragon around.

Suddenly Toothless slipped under his green opponent and flipped him in his side. His legs were even shorter than Toothless's and flailed a bit as he tried to rock himself upright, bashing his clubbed tail on the ground and wings flailing like mad.

Toothless gripped him by the armor with his claws and flapped his wings hard, making them both rise into the air. He swing Skullcrusher violently into a tree, which felled apon impact with the thick dragon. He shot three consecutive plasma blasts in his enemy's direction. They exploded with the force of a grenade, and Skullcrusher crawled out of the Blaze.

The ebony dragon was a mad rush of claws and tail, hitting the softer parts of Skullcrusher's natural beetle-like armor, striking with his paws. Left, right, tail, CHOMP! BLAST! The rumblehorn swayed on the spot.

With a roar, the prodigious Strike Class dragon swung his tail in a mighty arc and sent Skullcrusher tumbling backwards. Toothless barred his fangs and snarled, and the green and brown Rumblehorn flew off into the foliage.

Toothless sent one final snarl, as if saying "And stay away!"

Astrid watched the fight with planets for eyes.

Toothless retracted his teeth and rushed to where Hiccup had landed. She went with him.

She looked at his limp body in the swamy mud, and the red scum water around him turning darker by the second.

Her eyes trailed downwards, and she screamed, the contents of her stomach battling their way up her throat. She pulled him up and heaved him onto Stormfly's saddle, whisking him to the E. As fast as the speedy Nadder could fly.

* * *

><p>Astrid sat in the Hospital hall alone. Toothless and Stormfly couldn't fit inside, so it was only her to support the scrawny boy.<p>

His physical condition had been... Bad. Really bad.

His leg was far, far, far beyond salvation. It had to go, mid calf. They couldn't even try to save it.

The worst part about it was, well...

She had been watching the operation. As they brought the saw down to cut off the ruined limb, she saw his eyes fluttered open.

Toothless had gone nuts as his Companion's screams echoed through the hospital, so guttural they resembled his dragon's roars.

He had been _conscious _as his leg was sawed off. The thought alone made her almost throw up.

That was because of her. That horrible, mangled led pierced lump of flesh and bones and blood formerly called a flesh and blood limb should have been some part of her, but a Hiccup had taken it in her place.

That wasn't even the limitation of it. He had massive internal damage. Several of his ribs had healed improperly and had to be rebroken. He had lashes on his back that had gotten mildly infected, and had to be treated intensively. His bruises had caused massive internal bruising, and other wounds telling of much worse happenings.

How long was he living like that? She wondered.

How long had he been in that much pain? How long had he suffered?

She resolved to get the answers out of him, one way or they other.

She felt herself tear up and angrily wiped it away.

What was wrong with her! She barely knew this boy! Yet here she was, crying over him! She was supposed to be the very best! The untouchable! The one who would beat the crap out of anyone who gave her crap.

Though it did get lonely. Sure, she snapped Snotlout's bones when he tried to hit on her.

And beat Tuffnut with his own helmet from his viking uniform.

And dangled Ruffnut by the pier.

And hung Thuggory on the wall with Stormfly's spines.

And let Stormfly use Eret as a toy.

And talked Sandy into burying Cami from the neck down.

Ok, ok, she's kinda scary. But people avoided her like the plague, running as fast as they could when she came near. It got kind of lonely, even with Stormfly to talk to.

Then this scrawny little boy on a Night Fury had come in and actually beat her at something fair and square.

No cheating.

No tricks.

Just a friendly competition.

The genuine smile he'd given her, not a _please-don't-kill-me-I-beg-you, _smile, but a genuine one, full of warmth and friendliness. Not fearing imminent death in her presence. She wanted it again, and again. She wanted someone to actually want her to be around.

And then he'd started avoiding her too, when she'd done her best to be friendly and nice. Her anger had flared up worse than a mamma typhoomerang with missing babies.

She hunted the boy down for weeks, chasing him around the village searching for hours on Stormfly. But then again, she reminded herself, Toothless was elite.

A member of the Strike class, a class with only two members. Night Fury and Skrill. Apart from Bewilderbeasts and Color Deaths, they were the deadliest dragons around. And the Night Fury had managed to remain solely a silhouette for ten generations.

So it was excusable when it took a week for her to hunt them down.

And when she had finally caught her quarry, it was not as she expected. He thought he'd done something wrong. And those marks on his torso... They looked like they hurt pretty bad.

She wanted to make him not feel pain anymore. She wanted to make it ok for him, and she didn't know why!

The boy was so easy to be around, so easy to talk to, so _nice, _he was the first of her age group not to make her want to break cartilage and bruising skin.

What she did want is for him to wake up so she could find out why he was like this.

* * *

><p>Her stomach churned as she stared at the uneven lumps in the sheets, one an ironic foot longer than the other. It was a week since the accident. Bedgrigan's hackatoo had vanished.<p>

She glared at Hiccup, practically angry at him for just laying there.

Then her eyes trailed the bandages on him, and back to his too short leg, and her chest ached.

* * *

><p>"WAKE UP!" She screamed at him. It was two weeks after the accident. Toothless was getting restless. "JUST WAKE UP, PLEASE!" She yelled, and clenched her fists.<p>

"WHY!? WHY WONT YOU WAKE UP!"

She scowled as he just laid there, unmoving. Then, as she kept looking at his stum-leg! Leg! She can't call it a stump, because that would mean she was accepting she ruined his life.

Dragons had started disappearing rapidly, becoming muted in their riders' heads. Hookfang had been among the first to fly the coop.

But she kept glancing back in forth from his whole leg to his too-short leg,, and the bubbling in her stomach worsened.

She staggered to the trashcan and threw up, puking her guts out because it was her fault! Her fault he was crippled for the rest of his life. Her fault he would never feel anything between his two feet again for the simple reason he didn't _have _two feet.

* * *

><p>She sat quietly, looking at Hiccup's limp form. She had a cold pit of dread in her stomach. It was three weeks since they had the run in with Skullcrusher. Over half the village dragons had gone.<p>

Stormfly didn't come back last week.

She sat on the bed next to him and put her hand on his.

"Hiccup, you knew something about this. Or, or at least, something like it. We need you to wake up soon. If you don't, well, if you don't..."

She sighed. "Things have been getting a lot worse. Stormfly left with Sandy and Scauldy to go on a scouting mission. They didn't come back. She's muted in my head too, just like Skullcrusher was."

She took a deep breath. Talking to Hiccup was one if the few things that helped to keep her sure he would wake up. "Toothless is still here. He really got that mean old rumblehorn back for you!" She punched him weakly in the arm.

"You'd better wake up soon. Or I'll finish what he started." She chuckled weakly. He eyes had bags under them. A lot of stress was on her right now.

* * *

><p>"Hiccup, please, just wake up!" She scowled at him. Bertha's Boneknapper, Spiteloute's snafflefang, and Meatlug had vanished, along with Buffnut Thorsten's green Zippleback.<p>

She shook her head. "I think your just faking it at this point." She laughed bitterly. "Though, through my sharade games with Toothless, your quite the heavy sleeper." She sighed and pulled at her hair. "Hardly any are left its just Toothless that hasn't vanished compleatly."

* * *

><p>Hiccup blinked his eyes open. "Oooooowwwwwwwww." He groaned.<p>

He wiped his face with his hands. Every bone in his body popped. But... He felt better than he had in a long time. "Agghhhhhhh!"

He sat up and groaned again, cracking his back loudly. "Wait a minuet," he looked down. "I am in a hospital gown."

He opened the front to see smoothly healed skin. The scars were still there, but they were faded. They didn't look so angry and prominent. His ribs felt... _great! _He arched his back feeling the bones pop into place.

_"Toothless, you out there Bud? Wha-wha happened to Skullcrusher?"_

He popped his jaw.

_"Toothless."_

Nothing.

_"Toothless?"_

_"Hiccup?"_

_"Mornin Bud."_

_"HICCUP!"_

_"OW!"_ Hiccup yelled clutching his head. _"Not so loud in the morning Bud!"_

_"Astrid! Astrid! Astrid! Astrid!"_

_"Whaaaaaa?"_

A few minuets later, the door burst open and a flash of yellow and blue came across his vision.

"FINALLY!" Astrid yelled, squeezing him so hard he was pretty sure his lungs were making an escape attempt. She pulled away, grinning, then pulled her fist back and punched him in the arm.

"You are an absolute idiot with no common sense! You jumped in front of a RUMBLEHORN for me! Why would you _do _that?!"

He blinked. "I literally just said I like you! I mean, no one even thought I was worth pond scum before I came to Berk, so," he clapped his hands over his mouth.

"What do you mean," She asked, and he stammared nervously "Well, um, that, can really be inturpreted in soooo many different ways..."

She galred at him and he looked down.

"Astird," he said slowly, an icy dread in his tone.

"Hiccup?"

He swallowed. "What's with my legs?"

"Now, Hicupp, just calm down-"

"Astrid, just tell me-"

"Hic, the doctors said you'd be in a fragile mental state,especially with the trauma you went through to receive all the other injuries. Please, just calm-"

"ASTRID, what's wrong with my leg?!"

She pushed him down.

"Hiccup, take it easy, and that's an order, do you understand me mister!"

"Wha-what is this, I don't take orders from-"

"Hiccup, you can't look under the covers right now. Your in a fragile state of mind. A shock that big could _ruin _you,"

"Astrid, let. Me. See-"

Suddenly she growled. "What will it take to get you to listen?!"

"If you let me look, I'll do anything you-"

He was cut off by the warm softness against his lips as Astrid kissed him.


	6. How to talk about your feelings (not)

**I cant leave cliffhangers alone. **

**Hehehehe. **

**And I love doing them to you guys. **

**Thank you's for:**

**supersandman86, incredible idea guy and rising author and**

**the amazing author of Soul of A Dragon:**

** PersnicKty2018. She's an amazing author, and her HTTYD fic is incredible. If, by some impossible means, you have not read her story, I command you to go check it out right now and give her all kinds of epic reviews, as she's been so kind as to** do** for me on multiple stories. **

**Lets go!**

**ASTRID CAN REALLY SOFTEN THE BLOW OF LIMB LOSS.**

Hiccup was frozen in shock, lips puckered, eyes round as marbles, hands motionless mid-gesture.

Astrid was kissing him.

_Kissing. Him. _

Memories of being kicked around, being an outcast, they all vanished in that moment. He'd never been this close to anyone but Toothless without being hurt or humiliated.

Land here she was, her lips pressed again see his.

Something snapped deep inside Hiccup.

But that was good. This something had needed to be snapped for a long, long time.

Something that, for the sake of Hiccup's sanity and well being, needed to go.

Something that, if it had stayed, would have driven the teen down a very, very dark path.

That something was the deep set feeling inside him, of _self hate. _

For a very very long time, Hiccup had found it hard to look at himself in the mirror. He'd worked so hard for so long to find a way to get his dad to like him, when he didn't even like himself.

It wasn't that bad, he could normally suppress it, but it was always there, like a scorpion in his heart poised to strike. He would have bouts of disgust won't himself at times.

Hiccup has wished desperately he could like himself. He really really had. But each time he entered the bathroom, dressing room, locker room, or anywhere with mirrors, all he could see was ninety pounds of failure and weakness, with nothing going for him but the Strike Classer hovering behind his shoulder with a _I-Will-Eat-Your-Soul-If-You-Mistreat-Him _glare.

Toothless wasn't here now, so he couldn't be forcing her to do this.

She was still there during this rumination, kissing him.

Slowly the sickly feelings in his heart started to fade away, along with the crule voices tormenting him.

_Useless, can't do anything right, what's wrong with you-_

Gone.

_Lets see how tough you are without your mighty Night Fury beside you!_

Gone.

_What, can't handle being all alone for a week boy? How did I ever create such a slimy little worm such as yourself?_

Gone.

_(The memory or cutting himself)_

Gone.

_His internal voice whispering in his ear, "You'll always be alone, you deserve to be alone. Toothless doesn't deserve to be shackled with the likes of you._

_You were so selfish, pressuring him to bond with you when he had no idea what was going on, making him yours._

_ He might not say it, but let's face it, why would the Emperor of the Night Sky want to drag you around?_

_The village probably sees you as the nuisance boy who thinks he can work metal and show off his cool companion!_

_You should just-_

**Gone!**

Gone, gone, gone, gone, gone, gone!

even the Secret, which had plagued him for his entire stay in Berk, flushed down the drain into the darkest depths of his mind, racing away from him and ending his torment.

Heat spread through his nerves, starting from his lips, then the rest of his head, then his whole body. He felt warmer than he had since his Dad came into his room one night, snarling and spitting like an animal, proclaiming his mother dead.

But even more so, he felt _alive! _Here was proof that he wasn't universally hated to looked at like a pest, excluding Toothless.

She had no obligation to him, at least, none that would constitute all the warmth and soft affection being put into the kiss.

There was no passion in it, or love.

But it was gentle.

A promise. No not a promise. An affirmation.

"I'm here, I care, and I'm willing to hear," Is what it said.

As she pulled away, he unfroze, his face becoming a solid block of absolute joy.

The blond teen smirked at the new amputee, one end of her mouth curved upward, very pleased with herself, and rested a hand on her hip, the other getting stuffed into the pocket of her grey jacket.

"So, should that get you to listen now," she said a little breathlessly, and Hiccup nodded enthusiastically.

"Good. Now, Hiccup," she patted his arm.

"I just wanted to-"she choked, and grimaced. "S-Sorry, I'm really not that good at this. I don't- I can't- I'm not used-I don't want to seem like a jerk here-"

He tilted his head at her, now completely confused.

She stamped her foot at her frustrating verbal block.

"THANKS FOR SAVING ME FROM SKULLCRUSHER!" She finally yelled, making him flinch. He tried to hide it, but she saw and put her face in her hands and plopped onto the bed next to his stomach.

"Sorry, I'm-I'm not that good with words," she sighed, and, not knowing what else to do, Hiccup rubbed her back in what he hoped was a calming manner.

It was and she slumped. "It's ok." He told her, and she shook her head.

"Your a good guy, you know that Hiccup?"

He shook his head. "No, not really, no."

That raised a yellow eyebrow. "Really?"

Hiccup shook his head. He had just gotten over his self hate, until this point he always assumed he was lower than roaches. He'd never known if he was good or not.

"Well, you are. If you forget that, I'll punch you till you remember."

He just nodded, looking at her with ernest.

Astrid scoffed. "What, no comments about the kissing?"

"I don't want to sound creepy and perverted."

"Good man," she patted his shoulder, before mischievously pecking his cheek. "How are you feeling? Freaked out?"

"N-no. Kind of calm, a little rattled. I can still see Skullcrusher charging, ready to kill me. But it's not that bad."

She nodded. "Ok. Now you may look."

The blond got up, and Hiccup gingerly pinched the hem of the covers between his fingers, then, like a band aid, ripped them away.

If felt like acid relating at his insides. His left leg ended halfway below the calf. The stick like limb was wrapped tightly in bandages, and, now that he was aware of it, started to ache terribly. He could have sworn he felt the limb there a moment before.

He flexed the stump, rubbing it against the bed. "That, that can't, I can't-"

His heart sped up, and he began to hyperventilate.

"Hey," Astrid said calmly, petting his arm. "It's fine. You-you lost it when you pushed me out of Skullcrusher's way. He bit your leg. It was too far gone..."

He swallowed and gaped opened mouthed at his leg, then at her. "But... But... But..."

"I dragged you here. They well healed you. Amputated, treated your bruises and ribs, the lacerations on your back."

His breath hitched. "Hey, hey, hey," she said calmingly. "It's fine. You don't have to talk about it right now. Just relax. You've still got Toothless. The poor dragon nearly went insane working about you."

_"Yes I did you eel bitten twig! Too much sleepy time," _Toothless yelled into his companion's head, the black dragon extracting a shellshocked smile from his companion.

_"You've got to be kidding me, your the laziest dragon I've met after Grump!"_

_"I don't know why I missed you, puny human. You are annoying."_

_"So are you." _

He breathed in and out. "Hiccup, I want you to know that you _will _tell me what happened to you. But also, I won't tell anyone anything you won't want me to. Understand?"

"Yes."

"Are you gonna be ok?"

"Yes." And for the first time in a while, he actually believed that.

"Do you want to talk? Not about your injuries, just... Talk."

He nodded, still flexing the shortened leg. She put her hand on it. "Then how about where that kiss leaves us."

That made Hiccup blanch. "Well..."

"I'm not good at talking to people Hiccup," she laid a hand on his arm, taking it off his stump.

"But I can say this. Your the first one besides Stormfly to not run and hide from me. There are a lot of other things, but, I don't feel comfortable saying them. I want you to know, I want to help you, if you'd like."

She took her head and retracted her arm. "So?"

"I've only had Toothless so far in my life," Hiccup admitted. "And... Some others, but still, I think I'd like your help. I-I really would. But not if it troubles you..."

"It's no trouble for me," she said, "and you did tell me you like me a month ago. And," she bit her lip. "I'm pretty sure I made my feelings known. So, erm?"

"Relationship?"

"If you want to be."

"Do you?"

"I think what aI did a minuet ago more than says-"

"It could have been heat if the moment-MPH!"

The "MPH," was from Astrid pulling the front of his hospital gown for another kiss. It filled him with a warmth again, and he relaxed as she hugged him through the kiss.

When she released him, he breathed heavily. "N-not heat of the moment then?"

He got a punch for that. "Ow." he muttered and his short leg twitched. "That was for interrupting the moment," she said. "I won't lie. I'm interested in you. I'd like get to know you."

"And kissing me is the best way to get that?" He gave her a toothy smile.

"Im Fearless Astrid Hofferson. You want me to take what I want another way? I would, but your too wounded and too cute-" her eyes widened and she clapped a hand over her mouth.

It was his turn to give a smug smirk.

"Eh, what was that last bit?"

"Hiccup." She said scathingly, and he started to laugh, harder and harder, as she blushed red in the face, clenching her fists.

"HICCUP!"

Somehow Hiccup would always look back on his first night without a leg with fondness, not trauma. Astrid had managed to stave off the grief of loosing a limb. At least for a while.

While she was there anyway. They got so into their conversation, Hiccup even forgot he was missing one fourth a leg.

Unfortunatly it wasn't such a great night for everyone.

Nightcloud was a Stormcutter. The only remaining dragon in the village except Toothless. He was perched on top of his Companion's house, head swiveling around.

He whipped his long finned tail behind him, when suddenly there was a loud whistling in his head.

The darkly colored Stormcutter's Companion came out with a Domino's Pizza in hand. "Hey, buddy, I-" he dropped the food as the dragon spread his four large wings. "Nonononono dude, not you to! Don't go! Don't leave!"

It was too late as four leathery wings tore into the cool night air.

Nightcloud's claws skimmed the treetops, heading to a mountain in the distance.

Mist started to collect around him, but the Stormcutter was too focused on the whistling in his head.

Some thing told him that if he followed it, he could get rid of it! And it was too painful not to hate!

Without warning, a shape flew out of the mist. Skullcrusher flew alongside him, Hiccup!s blood still around his mouth.

A large blue and white Thunderdrum followed them, next Hookfang, Meatlug, Bertha and Spitelout's dragonsm Sandy, Stokehead, Torch, Scauldy, the Buffnut's Zippleback, and finaly the blue beautiful speedy nadder, Stormfly.

Rhey all had glazed looks over their eyes as they bearded to poor stormcutter towards the mountain, into a craggy opening in the rocks.

The dragons disappeared into it, all fitting perfectly.

Minuets later, a sound echoed through mountain.

A gigantic, monstrous roar.

**Fluff and Mystery. How was it?**


	7. How to Reflect on Life

**Bleh. **

**Nothing to say. **

**One more day until I can write all the time. **

**I didn't mean to rhyme. **

**So don't kill me for it this time. **

**Why am I even keeping this up?**

**-A freestyle poem by Rumbling Night Cutter. **

**Ok, I have absolutely no idea where that came from. Disregard, whatever that was. Anyway, here's the next chapter of Rebuilding Your Life, which has had some GREAT reviews. The series will now be part fluff, part angst, part mystery, the spicy bit of action, some adventure, and a GREAT WHOPPING BIG AMOUNT of Toothless saying all the cynical comments we all know hide under those green eyes, mocking the puny humans. **

**WHERE THE HECK HAVE THE DRAGONS GONE!? AND NO, ITS NOT TO DRAGON EGG ISLAND. ITS NOVEMBER FOR THEM. **

Hiccup was going mad in the hospital. Without a doubt, absolutely stark raving bonkers. He was trapped, in the ultimate way. There were no prison bars, armed guards, no security cameras.

There was nothing to make him feel like he was in a cage.

It was just his own lack of locomotion. It couldn't have been the arm, or a toe, or, maybe an ear. It had to be the part essential to his sanity, his way of getting around.

His effin leg!

This ran through Hiccup's head as he sat on the hospital bed, staring at the wall as if it had kicked a baby Toothless. He then glared at his stump.

The lock and key of his imprisonment.

He tapped his good knee with a finger, trying to keep his mind of the phantom limb that was being particularly spiteful today. The useless lump of flesh and nerves seemed to resent Hiccup for being enough of an idiot to get a part of it lost.

He groaned as the feeling of his left leg returned, aching and stinging like Skullcrusher's teeth were still buried deep into his flesh.

_Come on, _he thought to himself. _Good thoughts, happy thoughts. Flying with Toothless, Working in the Great Hall, fishing with Snotlout and Ruffnut, lunch break with Tuffnut, co-writing that book with Fishlegs, Astrid's kisses-_

THAT one banished the phantom limb completely, and he smiled a bit. He trailed his hand over the unmarked skin of his arm, smiling.

He reviewed his new life here. Best thing that ever happened to him, coming to Berk. Sure he was down a limb, but he no longer had an inner voice telling him to bump himself off. He had friends, a girlfriend. He no longer felt like his stomach was eating itself, and that he actually had a chance to live a good life.

Life compared to two months ago, was, in a word, amazing.

He looked down. The hospital had given him his Strike Class t-shirt, and jeans. He had the left pant leg rolled up to just under where his leg ended. He took a moment to breath, enjoying the feeling of oxegen coming in and out of his lungs painlessly.

The contentedness ceased, however, as his fingers found his shoulder, and grazed the tough patch of branded skin.

Under the sleeves were two brands. One, on his left shoulder, had the Skrill version of the Strike Class insignia, and his right had the traditional Night Fury version.

Suddenly he was unwillingly forced back into a memory. The hazing flashback sized his mind like a vice.

_Hiccup, as a thirteen year old, sat on Toothless's back. The Night Fury was full size, and wearing a black bowler hat. His undersized companion cradled a dislocated arm, while Toothless's left foreleg impeded the black dragon's progress with a limp._

_Hiccup sighed and patted the Night Fury's head. _

**_"I'm sorry I got us into that, Bud."_**

_Toothless just gave his boy a gentle croon. **"It's alright Hiccup. We probably shouldn't have argued with him."**_

_**"But Gustav-"**_

_**"Needed help, and you got in the way of those evil little bullies that you won't let me rip into tiny pieces. Thats what makes you the only good mature human around here. Actually, thats what makes you the only mature human around here. They're all monsters."**_

_Toothless gave his gummy smile, and Hiccup grinned back._

_Suddenly a ball of Dragon Nip flew at them and hit Toothless center nose. _

**_"What da..." _**_the Night Fury groaned. **"Cheap... Dirty... Trick..."**_

_With his last utterance of linguistic brilliance out, Toothless collapsed like a sack of fish. Hiccup jumped off him as he tipped, and winced as is bad arm got jostled. Tanking a moment, he braced himself against the unconscious Dragon's wing and popped it backinto place. _

_He yelled loudly and clutched the reattached bicep. _

_A large boy, with a tattoo on his left eye and a considerably thicker build than Hiccup, walked out of the bushes, trailed by an angry looking Skrill. _

_Hiccup went white as a sheet and stumbled backwards, holding his hands up in a placating gesture, before stumbling over Toothless's tail and tripping as the larger boy followed, fists clenched to bone-white. _

_"D-Dagur!" Hiccup gasped. "Wh-wh-wh-wh-what ar-ar-ar y-y-you d-doing h-here?!" Hiccup hated his stuttering problem. _

_"Do you know what just happened?!" Hiccup shook his head. _

_"N-n-n-n-n-" he never got to the end of that "no," as Dagur punched him into the gut. _

_"They said that Merciless was only half as tough as Toothless, since Skrills are only," he put air quotes around his next words, "Half as powerful as a Night Fury." _

_"They were saying I'me only half as powerful as you! Without your Companion, your just a worthless twig! Let's see how long you last when your buddy's all passed out on Dragon Nip over there!"_

_Hiccup cowered, terrified. It was hours of brutal beating, whips slashing down his back, cutting his skin and making him bleed, and ending with Merciless heating up the brands for Hiccup's skin..._

_And suddenly Hiccup felt a warm softness on his lips-_

Hiccup was snapped out of the flashback, eyes meeting Astrid's face in another kiss. She pulled away and looked at him. She looked a little worried, but smiled.

"Good. Your out of it. The doctor said to give you something positive when you get like that."

"L-like what?"

Astrid stared at him. "All, frozen, and panicky, like your trapped in something horrible. Doctor Gothi told me it was an after effect of trauma." Hiccup stiffened. Now there was no denying something bad had happened to him.

He tugged his sleeves downwards, not looking at her. Her next words unclenched the ball of worry in his gut.

"I won't press you right now, but I'm being remarkably patient by my standards. It'll have to be soon."

Hiccup nodded. "Where's Toothless?"

"Sleeping. He hardly got a wink while you were out. He's in the Iron Fury, around the steel collection."

That gained a chuckle from him.

"Meanwhile, your being released."

Hiccup's face broke into a grin and by raised his hands, letting out a cry of jubilation. Then he looked at his stump.

"Um, Astrid, how am I supposed to get around. I haven't got a prosthetic yet."

Now it was her to grin slyly. She stepped aside, revealing a wheelchair. "Uhhhhhhhh," Hiccup said nervously.

Astrid gave him her evil smirk. "And the Jourgensons are in the swamp, looking for the dragons. I control where you go for the next few days."

"Uh-oh."

"Yup. Think if this as revenge for beating me at dragon racing. You wounded my pride. Now I'm gonna wound yours. This'll teach ya to beat me anywhere!" The devilish grin she was wearing almost terrified the poor boy, his only comfort being that she didn't actually want to hurt or scare him.

Astrid was just... Playing. Yeah. Playing. Not really threatening him. Hiccup began to relax, the jovial gleam in her eye helping with that. It wasn't like Dagur's crule smile when he put the brands on his shoulders. She just wanted to make the mood lighter.

She effortlessly picked him up and chucked him into the wheelchair.

"WOA!" He yelled as he landed. "How are you this strong?!"

"Sports. Berk Champion of Football since I was nine." she said proudly, flexing her arms a and smirking at her skinny captive and he spluttered.

"But-But your arms!" He coughed, and said arms crossed. "What about them?" Astrid asked with a raised eyebrow.

"They're as twiggy as mine!"

"Ok," She said, obviously annoyed. "Your not going anywhere without me until you build a prosthetic, _and_," she leaned forwards. "You are going to be getting an eafull about how much of a fool you are for pushing me away from Skullcrusher."

"Uhoh." Hiccup groaned and his stump twitched. He gulped at the sly smile she was wearing.

* * *

><p>"Hiccup!" Fishlegs yelled as Astrid wheeled him out. He grabbed the now one legged boy in a hug. "I'm so sorry!"<p>

"For... What... FISH!" He gasped as the boy's meaty arms crushed him.

"I should have stayed longer! If I had been there when Skullcrusher attacked-"

Hiccup pounded his fist on Fishlegs's shoulder for air, and the rotund teenager placed his smaller friend in the wheelchair.

As Astrid rolled him along,meh surveyed the village. It was significantly emptier Without the dragons. The sun was as bright as ever, and the animals behaved as normal-birds chirping, the odd crocodile floating in the river.

But there were no Monstrous Nightmare swimming down there.

There were no Nadders in the sky.

The Timberjack and Hackatoo were not flying in with lumber.

Hoark's Snapptraper was not teasing people with the smell of chocolate.

No Gronckles lumbering around like giant heaters.

No Zipplebacks were ambushing people on the bridges with gas attacks.

Without the fire breathing reptiles, things were _colder. _More empty. People looked lost, looking beside or behind them, or looking up longingly at the sky.

They wanted to fly again, and the absence of their companions was tearing them on the inside.

Most were men though. Men didn't admit that. They were manly men.

"Where are we going?" He asked Astrid, and she looked at him. He could tell she was thinking the same things he was, and the absence of Stormfly was eating at her. Though she was just as manly as the others. No complaining for her ether. Astrid was beautiful, but had a very manly personality.

Berk's women and girls were very, very manly, Hiccup noted, an opinion strongly reinforced when he noticed that Mayor Bertha had chin stubble. They were very vikinglike.

"Mom's house. You have some idea about why the dragons went away, why Skullcru... Never mind," she caught herself. Hiccup gulped and leaned back in the wheelchair.

They passed the Iron Fury and sure enough, inside was a sleeping black reptile. The only one left in the village after Nightcloud flew away.

Astrid shook her head. "For the fastest dragon alive, he sleeps like a block of obsidian."

Hiccup laughed. "Don't need to tell me. I literally have to shout in his head sometimes. It's not fair that he can just step on me to wake me up!"

"Oh, quit whining!" She punched him in the shoulder, and he yelped. That actually hurt really badly!

He froze again,

_Norbert dislocating his shoulder, his Screaming Death tackling Toothless into the ground. _

_"You little hooligan. Shot me in the bum!"_

_"You were hurting a little boy! Please. My friend is, he's very sick. I heard you-you have the-"_

_He punched Hiccup in the gut. "Do I look like I care?" One of his eyes slid to the right. _

_"Uhhhhhhh..."_

_"Don't answer that."_

_Norbert reared his fist back. _

**_"HICCUP!"_**

_Toothless shot the Screaming Death in the face, and it flew off him. The Night Fury walked with a limp, but he took to the air and shot the screaming death in the face multiple times, then turned to Nobert. _

_The insane man took out a hatchet and held it above Hiccup-_

Astrid was kissing him again.

When she pulled away, he fiddled with the arm rests of his wheelchair. "S-Sorry about that." he stammered, and she stared at him like he'd gone insane.

"Hiccup, how is that your fault. It's an after effect of _trauma_!"

"Yeah, but, well, you don't have to, well, you know-"

"Kiss you," the words were accompanied by a raised skeptical eyebrow. He nodded. "I mean, if it's an- an obligation-"

"I happen to like it." She cut in, and pecked his lips. "Your nice, and I can tell you need whatever support you can get. Besides, with Stormfly gone, teasing you is gonna be my new favorite pastime."

She punched his shoulder, which hurt quite a lot.

Berk was definitely the land of manly women, he decided.

Manly, manly women. Oh boy, as Gobber would say. What kinda situation have I "Hiccuped" my way into now, with the prettiest girl I've ever met punishing my pride with a wheelchair and snapping me out of my traumatic flashbacks with kisses.

Eh, life could be worse, life could be-

_"HICCUP!" Gobber screamed. He leapt off of Grump and started to hobble his way towards the runt._

_Hiccup's heart raced. He looked back and forth from the smith to the monster in front of him. "Gobber, Gobber don't!_

Lips. Present. Kissing. Astrid. Gahhhhhh! Again!

"There, see, told you you needed it." she said, self satisfied she had won the argument and grabbed his wheelchair by the arm rest, dragging him along like a suitcase, a comparison not unnoticed by Hiccup. He huffed in annoyance and planted his elbow on the other side rest, head propped up by his hand.

"Your never going to stop messing with me are you?"

"Nope."

"Mergh."

**A filler chapter is the result of a half cocked idea and an excitable writers hand. Bye!**


	8. How to Find the Missing Dragons

**I won't lie, I am running out of ideas for this story. Gimme lots of suggestions! Please!**

**THE STORY OF THE VIKING, BUT NOT AS YOU EXPECT IT!**

"Thousands of years ago, we were at war with dragons. The entire earth was soaked in the blood of both species.

The humans hated the dragons bitterly, demonizing them and taking glory in each kill. Through the mammals' eyes, the dragons would just come and start killing, taking food and spilling blood, each day the killing getting worse and worse.

This went on for generations, the bodies piling up more by the year. It got bad. Humans would find dragon nesting areas and shatter the eggs, or murder the baby dragons inside, and Dragons would sniff out the houses of the pregnant and burn them to the ground.

A senseless, bloody, bitter war, without any foreseeable end in sight.

Until one day, a Stormcutter broke into the house of a viking child. He was about to impale the toddler on a claw, but for some reason, he didn't. He _played _with the boy instead, gently rocking the crib to calm the young boy to sleep as the raid went on outside.

A dragon and a human, at peace as the bloodshed went on outside. When he was asleep, the Stormcutter departed, disappearing from the raids completely.

When the boy grew up, he remembered that night in the cradle, the big, owlish reptilian face warbling gently as he fell to sleep.

He found a young Night Fury in the woods. He had a knife, and the dragon was badly hurt. He could have killed the black dragon where he laid. Instead, the viking repaid the debt left by the Stormcutter.

He calmed the dragon to sleep. But he stayed to be there when it woke up.

Over a period of months, he and the Night Fury became best friends, coming to trust each other with their lives. The Viking could not convince the other humans of the dragons' trustworthiness, so he left.

He left on the Night Fury, and was taken North, to the resting place of the true Dragon King.

The White Life, otherwise known as the Bewilderbeast. At the begging of the war, he had been overthrown by the Red Death and her mate, the Black Life. Both Alpha Dragons hated human kind, and dethroned the true king to exterminate the mammals.

The Viking met the Bewilderbeast. His Night Fury was the White King's heir. He greeted the human kindly, as did his few remaining followers. For five years, they took care of him, the Viking rising through their ranks to become a general. He was even reunited with the kind Stormcutter from his infancy.

One day, he went back to his home to find the place nearly toppled by raids. The girl he loved had greeted him with vigor as one of few friendly faces left. The island had been reduced to merely one hundred people. His father had perished, and his mentor died before his eyes. Outside the village, nearly one thousand dragons laid dead.

That was when the Viking decided that it had to end. The was HAD to end, by whatever means possible.

The Viking and his remaining fellows went about recruiting dragons for the Bewilderbeast, increasing their numbers to rival the Red Death and Black Lifes'.

It took a long, long, long time, and many were lost along the way. They gained friends, they gained enemies. But eventually, they were ready. They marched on the home of the usurpers, the two armies clashing with deadly force.

Finally the King fought his usurpers. The Black Life went to fight the White King, and the Red Death fought the Viking and Night Fury.

The Viking and the Fury lured the Red Death into the clouds, and bombarder her, enraging the great ugly dragon and creating holes in her wings.

With that part of their plan successful, they lured her down towards the sea. The holes in her wings and the steepness of her decent created a terminal dive, straight into the deep sea below.

Unable to breath underwater and to heavy to swim, the Dragon Empress disappeared under the water of the Barbaric Archipelago forever, drowning.

Meanwhile, the Bewilderbeast battled his rival in an intense clash of tusks and tails, roars echoing through the land as they fought.

The White eventually fell, however. As he laid on the ground, his lifetime rival impaled him in the side. Enraged by the act, the Night Fury drove away the Black Life into the sea, after his deceased mate.

And as the King lay dying, he gave one last act towards peace. With the physic power used to control his underlings, he reached towards the minds of every human and every dragon on earth, on every country, every inch of the planet, and _fused _the minds of both races together."

Hiccup closed the book in his hands. He was in the mayor's house, where Astrid had taken him to talk to her mom. The book was about how the Dragons and Humans had first come together. The old lether-bound novel had found his hands after Astrid had fallen asleep. It was now night time as he as he waited for Bertha in the main room of her house. She had yet to return, and Hiccup was getting tired.

His girlfriend was in a chair across the room, sleeping peacefully. He smiled at her and wheeled himself across the room, the moonlight making it hard to see in the room.

He was thankful for the support she was giving him. They were rushing things a bit, and both of them knew it. But with the dragons disappearing, people were holding tightly to anything they had left.

He wheeled himself out the door, and across the wooden bridge leading out of the mayor's house, then wandered the village.

The cold and empty looking village was invaded by the sound of locusts and insects in the surrounding swamp.

He rubbed his stump uncomfortably as the cool night air tickled it. "Couldn't sleep?" He twisted in his seat to see Police Chief Stoick.

"No, sir," Hiccup said, surprising himself that he was able to speak better around the intimidating presence of the man than his own girlfriend or friends.

"I was waiting at the mayor's house sir, and she didn't come back. I got tired, and was about to head back to the Iron Fury. Thats where I'm staying while my adoptive family is looking for the dragons."

"Ah," the police chief said, nodding understandingly. "So, kid, how have you been adjusting to Berk."

"Eh, nice enough place. Lots of mice and mosquitoes, though."

"Yeah. The pests of Berk. Even dragons find them annoying. My companion, Thornado, has a whole day reserve each year for trying to drive them from my house."

"Same with Toothless, though he actually _enjoys _hunting the mice! I swear, if I wasn't bonded to him, I would think he's some kind of freaky cat and not a dragon."

They shared a smile, and Hiccup wheeled himself to face the man properly.

"How ye handling the leg thing?"

The scrawny boy looked down at the limb and shook his head. "With someone like Astrid around, it's hard to focus on a missing leg."

The bearded man grinned at the boy. "Ah, young love. Bit of advice boy. Don't let anything happen to her. Ye'll never forgive yourself if you do."

He sighed. "Some sixteen years ago, me own wife and her Companion vanished of the face of the earth. We found some of her dragon's scales and the staff she always used to carry around in the river. The currents there were strong enough to was away and drown a boneknapper."

Hiccup winced and grimaced. "I'm sorry."

Stoick shook his head. "Ah, if anyone deserves condolences it's you. Lost a leg, came here all alone. At least ye still have yer dragon."

Hiccup smiled, a warm feeling passing through him. He was grateful that Toothless was still around to be with him, when everyone else's dragons had gone away.

He could have flown away at any time, but he stayed.

It dawned on Hiccup how many people he had in his life. Fishlegs, Ruff, and Tuff, Snotlout, Toothless, Astrid...

How had he gotten so lucky?

"Yes sir."

* * *

><p><em>"WHOOOOOO," <em>Toothless yelled. They shot into the clouds, spinning.

Hiccup had bought a saddle for Toothless and hooked himself in, secured by a belt around his waist and straps on his thighs. he held tightly to the handles of the saddle as the Strike Class dragon beneath him released the pent up energy of the past month.

Toothless had refused to fly until Hiccup had woken up, and now he was soaring his heart out.

The black dragon let himself tumble through the fluffy clouds, before snapping his wings open and gliding.

He shot upwards disturbing a flock of birds and he roared, shooting off a plasma blast that exploded into the air.

_"Hey! Careful! I'm only a month out of amputation," _Hiccup said playfully.

_"Your kidding right? I can literally hear you enjoying this. Physic link ya twit!"_

The undersized human chuckled at his companion, and they jackknifed down, breaking the cloud barrier

Toothless let out a roar of excitement as they went into a barrel roll, then opened his wings to let himself.

They glided for a bit, the wind nipping at Hiccup's face.

_"You recognized something about Skullcrusher, didn't you?" _Toothless asked.

He felt the affirmation coming from his Companion's mind in waves. _"You gonna tell me?"_

Hiccup sighed._ "I shouldn't. I really shouldn't. Bud, I'll tell you and Astrid together, I promise."_

Toothless took a long time to think about that. Hiccup clutched the handles of the saddle till his knuckles were white.

_Please just let him accept it, _he prayed. _Please, oh please just let him take my word for it. Trust me bud. Please, trust me. I can handle it on my eon, you don't need to know, I don't WANT you to know, YOU don't want to know. Your happier ignorant. There's no going back if you force me to tell you! It will never be the same!_

Finally, the Night Fury nodded. However, he rumbled, dissatisfied, and slowed his flight to a dull glide. He flapped his wings occasionally, the sound of the wind buffeting through them the only noise in the calm.

_"Toothless?"_

_"Yeah?"__  
><em>

_"Why did you stay?"_

The Strike class dragon sighed. _"Because, even though_ _you have been_ _lying and keeping secrets from me, your still my Companion and my brother. I'm not going to abandon you, Hiccup. I wish you would learn to trust me as much as I'm trusting you."_

_"I know bud," _Hiccup told him, and patted his onyx head.

Suddenly mist thickened around them.

They had lowered to the point where they were skimming the trees. Suddenly a large shape burst from the mist.

A huge blue and white thunderdrum. Next came Stormfly and Meatlug.

"Guys!?"

Hiccup looked at them open mouthed as more and more dragons revealed themselves. Hookfang, the Thorsten Zippleback, Torch, Scauldy, a Timberjack, Sandy.

Hiccup shuddered in fear as the bulky shape of Skullcrusher revealed himself from the mist. Toothless growled at the Rumblehorn, but oddly, the green dragon took no notice of the Night Fury's hostile actions.

Hiccup began to notice a pattern in the way the dragons moved. One side would edge closer, while the other would move farther away. If Toothless tried to to a certain direction, they would thicken around that area and growl.

_"Are they... Herding us Bud?"_

_"I think so."_

A mountain came into view, and Hiccup caught his breath as they were herded towards a crack in the side that emanated a red glow.

They plunged into it, the flock of missing dragons making sure they could not turn around and escape.

**Review. NOW! **


	9. How to Meet a Living Legend

**HERE IS THE NEXT CHAPTER!**

**Finally Hiccup finds the missing dragons!**

**Plz review. **

**And supersandman86's awesomeness has struck again, providing a plot line change that I think is epic. **

**HERE'S WHAT HAS BEEN TAKING THEIR DRAGONS!**

Hiccup crouched low onto Toothless as they went into the mountain, the craggy rock above him nearly scraping his head.

Stormfly was almost right next to him, her wing tips nearly an inch away from Hiccup's face.

"Hey, Stormy," he said, reaching a hand out to her. She looked straight ahead, not acknowledging him.

"Stormy. It's me. It's Hiccup. Come on, don't you want to see Astrid?"

Stormfly twitched her head a little, her pupils dilating a bit. The Nadder squawked once, but resumed her previous passiveness.

_"I don't like this Bud." _Hiccup said to Toothless.

The Night Fury shook his head, looking at Hookfang, who was a few feet away. _"Me neither. They look...possessed."_

_"Yeah." _

His eyes found a certain Rumblehorn again. He shook and rubbed his stump, feeling the pointed teeth sink deep into his no-longer-existing flesh.

The blood was still dried around his brownish maw. His blood. Lots of it. Massive amounts. He gulped, feeling a bit sick. Skullcrusher didn't look at him, but roared, showing off rows of spear tip-like teeth. Hiccup shook his head, trying not to think of that night.

He looked away, focusing back on the bright blue Nadder. "Stormfly? St-WOA!"

They were suddenly plunged downwards, into a large cavern. The missing dragons of Berk sat on ledges or hung from cliffs.

Below was a large void, extending downward some two hundred feet at least, darkness the only thing visible when they looked down.

They were herded to a large platform where several dragons roamed. Stormfly landed beside them, seemingly setting down for a nap.

Hiccup looked around and saw the other dragons all flying off into different passages or landing on ledges to sleep.

_"Toothless, what is all this?"_

_"I don't know," _the Night Fury responded, flattening his ears. He crouched low, eyes darting around suspiciously and wings raised to guard the human on his back.

Hiccup pushed the wing down and reached behind him in the saddle to the foldable wheelchair strapped in behind him.

He unfolded it and plopped it on the ground, careful not to wake the sleeping Thunderdrum nearby.

After he up strapped his legs from Toothless's saddle, he eased himself into the chair and wheeled himself to Stormfly, wincing as the axel squeaked as he passed Spitelout's Snafflefang.

His girlfriend's Companion opened her eyes and snarled at him, the boy backing up from her as the spikes on her tail shot up. They were long since de-venomized, as most Nadders close to get done at an early age, but they were no less sharp and deadly, and he knew she could throw them with pinpoint accuracy.

"Hey, Stormy," he said calmingly, wheeling himself forward slowly and holding out a hand, palm facing the dragon's head and fingers spread. "Come on, it's ok. I just want to know what's going on."

He glanced at the empty saddle on Stormfly's back. "Come on, you look like your kinda lonely. I can't have Astrid all to myself. How about we take you back to your Companion eh? That would be nice, right. She misses you horribly."

Her bright yellow eyes dilated every time he mentioned the blond girl, and started to lower her spikes.

"Come on, Astrid wants to see you again."

The Nadder got up, and started to walk towards him, crouching low to be at eye level. Then, she rubbed his hand with her head, eyes fully dilated.

"You back with us Stormfly?"

She nodded, and sniffed at Hiccup's amputation. She warbled sympathetically. Though only Astrid could communicate telepathically with Stormfly, he got dragon body and sound language well enough.

"It's ok. I'm- I'm ok. Astrid took good care of me. Though, I don't think the shock has hit me quite yet. Been to focused looking for you useless reptiles."

He patted her head, and she made an indignant noise, but gave me a draconic grin and swished her tail.

_"Is she saying anything important?" _He asked Toothless_. _

_"How should I know? I don't speak Nadder." _

He shook his head and scratched Stormfly's scales some more, before Toothless pulled his chair away by he handles.

He stood on his hind legs and sniffed the air.

_"Something ain't right here," _he growled in Hiccup's head. _"Something smells... Just... Wrong."_

_"How so?"_

_"Something that shouldn't exist. Something we don't WANT to exist. Like, when you see something copy pasted into a picture, and it just doesn't look like it belongs? It's like that, but as a smell."_

Hiccup pulled himself back onto his Companion's back, grasping the handles tightly.

_"How you feeling Bud?"_

Toothless looked at him, confused.

_"Why does that matter?"_

_"It just does. How's your head?"_

_"Hic-"_

_"Please answer me."_

The Strike Class dragon sighed. _"Fine. It feels fine. Small headache in front of my ears, but otherwise, I'm all good. Happy?"_

_"Yes."_

He honestly was, and let out a relived sigh. So he wasn't under what the other dragons were. That was indefinitely good.

Stormfly nudged Hiccup's arm. "What is it Storm?" he asked. She squawked at him and nodded down towards the void.

"Something down there?"

The Nadder nodded and spread her wings out, and moved her head in a clear gesture to follow.

Toothless nodded and flapped his wings carrying them off the ledge. Stormfly led the way down the cavern, going straight down into the void.

She opened her mouth and held her fire there, making herself a living torch in the darkness.

"Stormfly? Wh-where are we going?"

She flicked her tail at him, a clear message to just keep following.

Suddenly her torch light hit something.

"Dear gods…," he muttered.

Below them, laying on its side, was a MASSIVE dragon. Huger than any Timberjack he'd ever seen.

The body was big and brutish, thickly built, covered in red spikes. It had a large rectangular head, with a coral like crown, protruding teeth, each bigger than Stoick and Bertha combined, and six closed eyes. It's thick tail ended in a massive club, five times bigger than the biggest dragon he'd ever seen.

Massive wings were folded at its sides, and it had thick, fatty legs with long claws and more red spikes. It's heavy breathing sounded like an earth quake, and shook the entire cavern with each passage of air.

"What... Is that?" Hiccup gasped, terrified.

Toothess landed on a small ledge, Stormfly perching beside them.

_"The Red Death... Our mistress," _Toothless said quietly.

Hiccup looked at him in astonishment, fear spreading through the amputee.

_"What do you mean that's the Red Death? She died centuries ago!"_

_"Apparently not, you twit! She's sleeping right in front of us, a little larger than life, and," _the black dragon sniffed_, "Slightly gassy."_

_"Didn't really need to know that part," _Hiccup said sarcastically. _"But_ _how do you know that's her?!"_

He shook his head. _"Even in her sleep, she's whispering in my head. I'll try to let you hear it."_

He nodded and clutched the handles of the saddle. Suddenly a voice invaded his mind. It was vaguely feminine, but gravely and old. Unbelievably old. And coursing with malice and loathing.

_"Join me. Join me you foolish children, for that is what you are. Fragile children, with no sense of what's right and wrong. Listen to me, for I am the Red Death, mistress of all dragons. I am your queen, you will listen to me. You will defend on all Humans, massacre their wretched species to extinction, burn their remains to ashes. Forget the White King's blasphemy, forget the atrocity he committed by binding our noble race to those worms that crawl the Earth. We are dragons, we are superior-"_

_"Stop it Bud, make it stop!" _Hiccup said suddenly.

_"You sure?"_

_"Yes."_

_"Ok."_

The voice stopped, and Hiccup breathed a sigh in relief. The scrawny boy began to panick at the apocalyptic dragon slumbering before them. He thought of Berk, unaware of the devil dormant right under their noses.

He had to warn them. But they'd think he was nuts without proof. He shoved a hand in his pocket and took out his phone.

_"What are you doing?"_

_"We need proof of this. We have to warn Berk." _

He snapped a picture of the Red Death's head and went into his Email. He sent the picture to Police Cheif Stoick with one message:

RUN!

"Toothless, Stormfly, we have to go. NOW!" He told the two reptiles, and the nodded, taking off.

Unfortunately, Toothless knocked over a stone from the ledge as he jumped off.

The rock, about the size of a football, tumbled downwards and broke the silence by shattering against the Red Death's nostril.

The shards tumbled in, and to Hiccup's horror, the malicious titan sneezed.

Filthy fire filled the cavern, and the two dragons darted upwards to avoid the smelly flame.

When it cleared, the Red Death's eyes, all six of them, were wide open, and slit pupiled. A loud ringing shot into the dragons' heads, Night Fury and Nadder roaring in pain.

"Come on guys, keep it together. We need to get out of here! We need to go!"

He pulled Toothless's ear and the black dragon shot upwards, heading for the top of the cavern, followed by the blue and yellow blur of Stormfly. The Red Death's voice invaded even Hiccup's mind.

_"The Night Fury! The one who tried to drown me! How is he still alive after the long centuries? No matter, he must die. He must die painfully, slowly, in agony! KILL HIM!"_

Hiccup swore under his breath and urged Toothless forward. Meatlug and Hookfang lunged, but Stormfly drove them back with her spines. They shot out of the abyss, and dragons swarmed them.

For a moment, their vision was obscured by Zipplebac gas. The boat driver's green Nightmare and Torch, both alight, came at the cloud, but Toothless hit them both with plasma blasts. The Stoker Classers flew backwards and crashed into the cliff sides.

The enslaved dragons just kept coming, pupils as thin as could get, with full intent to kill. This must have been what they were like during that age old war.

No wonder the humans thought they were creatures of Hel. That's what the Red Death turned them into.

Toothless shot aside a blue Gronckle that tried to ram them, and Stormfly slashed away a pink thunderdrum.

Out of nowhere came Petris, the Flightmare that was Astrid's Uncle Finn's Companion. She shot a beam of blue mist at them, and both dragons spun to avoid, the blast instead his sting Bertha's Boneknapper as it tried to eat Stormfly.

The cartilage covered dragon froze and dropped onto a ledge, completely frozen. A Speed Stinger jumped from a ledge to get at Hiccup, but Stormfly grabbed it with her claws and threw it aside.

"Guyes, we can't just fight every single dragon here! We have to get out!" He pulled at Toothless's saddle.

_"Well, look for a way out!" _Toothless said in his head.

The scrawny boy frantically searched for the exit while the dragons battled it out. He spotted a hole in the ceiling, daylight shining though.

"There!" He pointed, as Stormfly took out a bright red Snaptrapper by slamming it against the wall. The two dragons started to fly towards it when a dark shape collided with Toothless.

The Night Fury roared and blasted his attacker in the face after a brief tumble in the air.

_"Get off of me!" _

The attacker was Nightcloud, the enormous Stormcutter roaring, before being drivenofff by a barrage of Stormfly's spikes. One went into his side, and the poor dragon yelped in pain, gliding into one of the passages.

_"NIIIIGGGHHHTTTT FUUUURRRRRRRYYYYYYY!" _

The mental projection from the Red Death echoed through the trio's minds. The massive dragon dragged herself out of the void and roared at them, six eyes narrowed into yellow slits of hate.

Toothless and Stormfly bolted out the opening, Hiccup hanging onto Toothless for dear life as they nearly broke the sound barrier.

Merely seconds after they exited the mountain, the Red Death exploded out of it, chunks of the cliffside falling around her.

She looked even bigger in the daylight. The swamp trees didn't even reach her elbows, and they were some big trees. She roared and spewed fire, barely missing the black and blue dragons.

Stormfly wiggled her tail. Hiccup knew what she was dong. Even de-venomized Nadders could summon a weaker version of their kinds' venom, one that acted as a tranquilizer, not a poison.

She was filling her spines with the tranquilizer.

The Red Death roared again, and opened her wings up. She flapped them once, her paws lifting got the ground, when Stormfly fired.

The spines flew through the air, towards the on unarmored targer she could his at such a long range.

The Red Death yelped as the spines went straight down her throat. Her six eyes became clouded and her wings stopped moving. She wobbled on her paws, not knocked out but very sedated.

The two dragons shot back to Berk.

The swamp town was in chaos. The National Guard had Timberjacks and Boneknappers evacuating people, as their dragons were missing.

He flew low, searching for a familiar blond head. He found her about to get on a Timberjack.

She saw him too, and ran towards where he was approaching. "Hiccup, what's-WHAT THE-"

She was grabbed by Stormfly and whisked away, thrown onto her once-lost Companion's back.

"Stormfly?!" She said, in both shock and happiness. Suddenly the Red Death's outline could be seen in the distance, still wobbly, but very much angry, and the dragons acted on instinct, flying as fast as they could in a random direction, the only thought in their heads was to get their Companions far, _far _away from danger.

Within minuets, Hiccup and Stormfly had disappeared into the distance

Within hours, Berk was compleatly evacuated.

Within a day, it was in ruins, the Red Death stomping on the Swamp Town's remains.

**Im kind of iffy about this chapter. What about you guys?**

**REVIEW, I COMMAND IT!**


	10. How to Run Away

**I just wanted t let it be known I have not forgotten my other fics besides Ghosts of the Night Fury. So here's a small chapter of rebuilding your life for you guys. **

**IM PRETTY SURE MY WRITING SKILLS HAVE IMPROVED SINCE LAST CHAPTER!**

Hiccup leaned low on Toothless's back, trying to ignore the stares from his girlfriend that were alternating between curious and scathing. He was trembling like a leaf after encountering the second most dangerous dragon known to the world, and clutched tightly at Toothless's saddle.

"Hiccup," Astrid called from the back of Stormfly. "What the heck was that? You go flying, and suddenly everyone is evacuating! And what the heck was that gigantic monster thing, you just sent a picture of it to the Police Chief and he sent everyone running. You better explain right now, or so help me I'm going to knock you senseless when we can get the dragons to land!"

Hiccup's only response was to shake even harder, and Astrid softened her gaze. She remembered what was under his shirt, all the scars and now-healed bruises. The boy had survived something horrible, and yelling at him probably wasn't going to work, only make him more afraid.

She sat up straight on Stormfly's back and took in a deep breath through her nose, trying to calm her own fear. Yes, she was afraid and wasn't scared to admit it. Who wouldn't be terrified after seeing the monster that was the Red Death? Only an idiot wouldn't be afraid of her, and Astrid Hofferson was many things, but an idiot was far from any of them.

"Hiccup," she called again, and she heard him mutter something to himself, something to Toothless.

"It was the Red Death," he answered, and her eyes widened in horror. Her breath caught in her throat, and she clutched tighter to the handles of Stormfly's saddle. The thing that plunged the ancient world into a bitter, bloody war between species that now stood hand in claw with. There were probably millions upon billions of deaths on her claws.

"Hiccup," she said, breathing heavily. "Th-that can't be true. You know the story. The Viking, he-he decimated her wings, plunged her into the sea. Theorists say that her kneck was probably broken when she hit the bottom of the sea, if she even survived that long with the water pressure or the oxygen!"

"Well ether this is her kid or she survived!" Hiccup snapped at her. His face was a sculpture of stress and anger, and most of all fear. But not fear of the apocalyptic dragon that had just driven them from their home, no, he was afraid all the activity, all the mentions of a boy and a Night Fury in the news might have attracted the attention of his father. And that his father would come for him, and this time he wouldn't be able to run.

He looked at his shortened leg and back at Astrid, who was shaking her head and pressing her face into Stormfly's neck. Surprisingly, there was no bitterness or regret in there. He didn't regret loosing his leg for her sake.

That confused him. He sould be wishing he'd never met the beautiful blond so that he might still have his leg. He should be looking blaming her for his loss. He should be screaming and shouting that it was her fault for being to slow to get out of Skullcrusher's way.

But for some reason, he couldn't find it in himself. He couldn't make himself hate her. He couldn't make himself hate Toothless or Stormfly for not doing anything. He couldn't make himself blame anyone, no matter how much he wanted to. Hiccup had never really been the sort to blame anyone for a foul-up.

Hiccup had always looked at the world as it is, shrugged, and went about it as it was. He took reality as it was not how he'd like it to be. He'd lost a leg, so he lost a leg. Blaming the first person to actually take a deep interest in him wouldn't bring his leg back. It wouldn't make him feel any better. It would just drive her away and leave him with only Toothless again. He loved his Companion, but only one person in his life was a sad, sad thing that he didn't want.

But right now, Berk was dead and they were on the run, flying over the swamp at light in speeds as they headed for the coast for one reason or another. It was really the dragons' decision where they went at this point.

"I'm sorry Astrid," he said, finally calming himself. He managed to stop shaking in the early morning air, and looked at the Tracker Class pair. "I'm sorry."

She just sighed and continued to press her neck into her Companion's neck. She was on the brink of crying. Her home was in ruin, and she didn't know if her mother and sister were alive or dead and was afraid of the answer. She was fighting the tears with everything she had, while Hiccup simply had none left to shed.

"It's fine, Hiccup," she said then pushed herself up on Stormfly's saddle. "So... You found the Red Death. Did she mistake Toothless for the Night Fury that nearly killed her in the story?"

"Apparently," he answered. "Apparently he bears a resemblance."

"Ah."

She shook her head as they flew. Toothless grumbled in his flight, but didn't send anything to Hiccup as the sun appeared in the distance, dying the sky orange. Soon they were over the ocean, flying faster and faster and faster over the water, the extraordinary Nadder breaking the speed limit of her species. They sped over the water, seaspray flying in their wake.

"So, Stormfly's refusing to speak to me."

"Toothless is the same."

"Where do you think we're going?"

"I dunno," Hiccup shrugged, looking at her with wide green eyes. She pulled on Stormfly's saddle, directing her until her wing was directly above Toothless.

Astrid stood up on the back of her Nadder and started to walk across her wing like a tightrope walker, then jumped down onto the Night Fury's back behind her boyfriend. Stormfly flew above them, still slit pupiled and going as fast as she possible could, at speeds that should be beyond her abilities as a Deadly Nadder.

Astrid wrapped her arms around his shoulders and nestled her chin against his shoulder. "What do you think happened to everyone else. Fishlegs, Ruff, Tuff, Cami, Snot, Eret, my mother, the Jorgensons and Ingermens an Thorstens, and..."

"Hoffersons?"

"Mmm-Hmm."

"I don't know. I'm sure they got out in time, though. Stormy sedated the Red Death with a spike down the throat, so that had to buy them some time."

They flew in silence for a while, the only sounds, the crashing of the water under them, the occasional unbonded Tidal class dragons surfacing from the sea, and the steady tandem of the dragons' wings in the air.

They sat together, enjoying each other's company over the large expanse of salty water. "Did it feel like this when you ran away from home," Astrid sighed.

"Nah. It felt more... Liberating. Like I was finally getting away from my problems. But this is more like something was ripped out of me, ya know?"

"Yah."

"How you holding up?" He twisted to look her in the eye, but she just looked down, sorrowful.

"Fine."

"Is that how you Berkians say that your totally not all right at all and barely coping with the situation?"

"Why?"

"Because if so, I'm fine too."

She chuckled mirthlessly and put her chin back on his shoulder, her eyelids becomeing heavy and falling closed. "You tired there, 'Strid?"

"Mmmmnnn yeah," she moaned. "Long day... Kinda drained. You?"

"A little," Hiccup yawned. Suddenly he was very aware in the soreness in his body, and the aching in his skull. His head dipped forward, before he shook his head and re-straightened himself.

Astrid was already asleep, snoozing soundly against his back, and he wasn't far behind her. "Can I trust you two not to fall asleep too," he asked the dragons.

**"I would never let you fall Hicccup,"** Toothless said seriously, his tone full of steadiness and clarity. **"Get some rest, Bud. We'll be there when you wake up."**

"Be... Where," he tried to ask, but he nodded off,slumping against Astrid, the two sleeping teens' weight supporting each other as Toothless flew on. The black dragon and the blue dragon flew on, instinctually heading for the place every one of their species knew was safe.

The old viking island of Berk, a small island that's twelve days North of Hopeless and a few degrees South of Freezing to Death, and located solidly on the Meridian of Misery in the Barbaric Archipelago. Berk was a rather round island, similar to an oval shape, and it looked wasn't on any map. It contained many interesting geological landforms such as rocky arches and cliffs, beaches, waterfalls, streams and several large forests. But the most interesting feature was that it was the home of the Viking in the story.

The former hub of the war was now a hotspot for runaway dragons and riders. People who didn't want to be part of the world anymore, or were running from it. And Toothless and Stormfly sure were running.


	11. Sorry, accident no new chapter sorry

Not a chapter to this!Missclicked! Sorry! Sorry!


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